Originally Posted by
A and C
I don't think that the Piper or Cessna test pilots are the only input to the POH, I would guess that the company lawyers have quite a bit to say on the subject and most of what lawyers say is about protection for the client, not for the protection of the pilot.
A quick assessment of the situation is far better that rushing blindly into a situation that you could have prevented by a small amount of thought. I don't advocate keeping the electrics running for more that about 60 seconds, 30 seconds of thinking and trouble shooting and 30 seconds for the mayday call & 7700 on the transponder. At no time did I say reset any circuit breakers, I said TRIPP the CB's of suspect system, after all it could be a problem with the CB it's self.
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The 3 memory (bold) items in the C 172 checklist for a cabin or electrical fire are:
Master ............. Off
Vents, cabin air...Off
Fire Extinguisher..Activate.
The non memory items call to ventilate the cabin after assuring the fire is out and land ASAP. Personally I don't see a lawyers hand in what to me represent a pretty practical set of actions.
I think leaving the master on for a whole minute when suspecting a cabin fire is lunacy. 60 seconds is plenty of time for a dead short to heat up to many hundreds of degrees with the heat feeding a fire which can quickly get out of hand. If you flying day VFR in a light GA aircraft which I think applies to the majority of people reading this form, then again, I can't think of any circumstance where electrical power to the cabin is
essential for continued safe flight.