Originally Posted by
A and C
It is very hard what qualifies an electrical fire in the early stages, the first unusual smell should get the pilot looking for a problem and mentaly getting into electrical power down mode......... But not an unconsidered electrical shutdown.
A few years ago I had the low volts light come on and the alternator load fall to zero along with a smell of burnt rubber, I was thinking about shutting down the electrical system but with no other indications and all the other electrical equipment functioning I just off loaded all unnecessary electrical equipment and landed normaly....... The reason for the trouble was a broken alternator belt that had come to rest on the cylinders.
It would become very quickly apparent if things were progressing from a minor problem into one that could not be contained unless drastic action was taken, I take the view that you need to be sure that he action you are taking is the correct one for the situation and not a vast over reaction that will put the aircraft in more danger than is necessary.
Of course if you are starting to get acrid smoke, erratic indications etc there is no doubt that the electrical master switch has to go off, what I don't want to see is very low time pilots shutting own electrical systems in blind panic and then making a panic approach with no flaps or stall warning system and getting it all very wrong.............and then the accident investigators find that the inital problem was a system had shorted, there was a slight burning smell, the system CB had tripped to protect the system as it should have and there was no danger of the problem escalating.
The title of this thread is "you have an electrical
fire in the cockpit". The original poster asked about dealing with this emergency by first making a radio call. I reiterate my absolute belief that when you think you have a fire, which to me would be a strong burning smell, and/or the presence of
any smoke and of course when visible flame is obvious, then you don't waste time talking on the radio you
immediately follow the POH fire checklist starting with turning off the master. I do however support the recommendation of an earlier poster to turn on the ELT via the remote switch.
The bottom line is simple. Every emergency should start with fly the aircraft , deal with the emergency, then talk on the radio. Again I am struggling to think of any light aircraft emergency where talking on the radio is going to be the first thing you do.
I guess we will have to agree to disagree on this one.
Finally if landing with no flaps would cause British PPL's to "panic" then the state of your flight training is worst then I thought. Oh and single engine Cessna's do not require power for the stall warning horn to operate, something that is clearly discussed in the POH, for those who bother to read it. (Note, electrical power is however required for Piper stall warning systems).