Originally Posted by
FH1100 Pilot
Any fire in any aircraft in flight is a serious issue. We often say, "Where there's smoke, there's fire." But the corollary, "Where there's no smoke, there's no fire," is not true. Just because there's no smoke doesn't mean something is not burning. The crew mentioned that they noticed a "burning plastic" smell throughout the helicopter. I know, I know, I know, it's easy to second-guess the actions of a flight crew after the fact. I know. But...here we go...by the crew's own description, there was "a few minutes" between the smell of "burning plastic," and the cockpit suddenly filled with smoke. Hmm, during those "few minutes" after they first smelled the burning plastic (which is most assuredly not normal), imagine if just one of those boys had paused and thought for a moment and said to himself, "Wait a minute...what was that thing ol' Matty Zuccaro used to say...something...something about...oh yeah! LAND THE DAMN HELICOPTER!" Maybe if they had done that when they first smelled something BURNING, they would not have needed to endure the honor of receiving an award from HAI. After the event...you know, when the smoke cleared (sorry for the bad pun), one of the pilots was asked about what he wanted people to take away from this event? He replied, "Keep flying. Keep talking..." Hey bubba, how's about "keep landing?" Because you know...and I mean, YOU KNOW that to this day those two guys are privately saying to themselves (but perhaps not even to each other), "We should have put that goddam thing down when we first smelled the burning plastic. We almost friggin' died."
Matty Z is probably rolling over in his grave.
Their descent was from 4500 ft and the fire started about 60 seconds after the first smell. They were still at 3000 ft when they got the uncontrolled climb.
https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket?ProjectID=105994