Claudia I doubt very much it was the fault of the G2 airframe...rather the dinosaur lycoming :mad: as was the electrical system attached to my lycoming fire on the H269 airframe :yuk:

VF I really appreciate you sharing your thoughts on the matter
and i would very much agree with your theory.
Claudia

OBVIOUSLY it had a real fire, everyone can see that.
But do you have any intel that it actually "burst into flames in flight !!" as you put it? I can imagine a few more scenarios leading to the outcome in the video...

And what is "interesting" about this? Is flying inside the HV curve known to increase the risk of engine fire?

Section 3 (Emergency Procedures), Cabri G2 Flight Manual. Professional pilots recognise that their role, occasionally, is to diverge from the AFM.

Again, I am missing where it says that a) the fire broke out during flight and b) a powered approach was performed?

Maybe what we are saying is that *if* the engine fire broke out in flight, and *if* it is further confirmed that the pilot landed "under power" (and not simply "under control"), and *if* the circumstances would have permitted an auto-rototation landing, then possibly the immediate shutting down of engine and fuel might have better contained or even stopped the fire?

When my O-320 in a Cherokee "burst into flames" shortly after rotation, killing the engine was not an option as it would mean landing on top of a factory roof at the end of the runway. The engine was still producing power and the airspeed was still increasing. With a cabin full of smoke and intense heat coming from behind the firewall that I thought the soles of my shoes had melted on the rudder pedals, a decision was made to perform an engine shutdown at 400ft which gave enough hight to turn around and land on the non-duty runway.

With the engine shut down, the fire extinguished, and the most beautiful non-duty runway directly in front of me, an unfortunate error outside my control had created yet another immediate challenge which almost ended in an even bigger number of fatalities...we got lucky that day.

Only the pilot in command can judge how to handle these emergencies as they are dealt to him/her. Give 'em a break as they managed to walk away from it at the end of the day.

Vertical Freedom

You seem to be blaming the engine for your fire. However the only engine supplied electrics are normally the HT leads. All other associated wiring and equipment is airframe manufacturer supplied. I would be really surprised if the HT leads burst into flames. Can you clarify?

Well, I think this student pilot on a solo flight managed the situation quite well.
Shortly after take off he heared a bang and following clatter without changes in the helicopters behaviour. So he radioed the tower that he would return due to a problem. During the turn he noticed smoke building in the cockpit and decided for a precautional landing as the aircraft was still flying under power and ok. He informewd the tower, landed, shut down the Cabri and legged it because in that time there was a lot of smoke.

So, he might have made the mistake to land under power, but for a student he did a good job.:D

Happy landings.:ok:

"Shortly after take off he heard a bang and following clatter" So he could have been in avoid curve & made a decision that with his experience was justified with a good outcome.
Eric
There are fires without lectric :E

Good job!
 

Exactly! So back to the cause of the fire! Modern helicopters are not supposed to go up in smoke out of the blue.

Guys, I was the pilot. I have 62 hours on rotors. I was circa 300ft climbing above rising ground. 2 minutes into second leg of a first solo xcountry. Bang followed by continuous and loud clatter. Quickly followed by smoke in the cabin that was acrid, white and reminiscent of a car tyre burn out. It concerned me immediately that a fire could get started from friction (half a belt rubbing on a fire wall?). To be frank, I never considered an auto rotation, she was flying beautifully with no control issues, or vibrations, just a lot of noise and smoke. As some of you point out, procedure would have me shut down the fuel and enter a rotor glide. Given my speed (60 knots) and relatively low altitude above ground, and inexperience, I doubt that would have been a good outcome. I also needed to find a suitable spot between houses, power lines trees etc over undulating terrain. I'm guessing but I think less than a minute to put down. After getting out of the machine smoke turned into flame pretty quickly. Observers noted smoke in the cabin as I landed and not breathing any more carbon composite than necessary was top of mind. What still upsets me the most is that such a terrific machine got destroyed on my watch.

Hey ericferret...there are in-fact other electricals on an engine beside the HT cables :ooh: on my H269 fire; it was the generator that caught fire due to a seized bearing which caused more smoke than harm but there was a fire & it was close to burning through the fuel lines, which fortunately did not :eek:

No regular extinguishant to hand? In the video there was an udder option nearby :)

Mickjoebill

Hallo IanGJolly,

I think you did a good job. :D And the best is - you didn´t get hurt:ok:

Keep enjoying helicopter flying. Always happy landings.

.

"Aspen Avionics has announced that the EFD1000 Primary Flight Display System (PFD) system is now available as a factory option on the Cabri G2 helicopter manufactured by Helicopteres Guimbal of France."

https://www.aspenavionics.com/news/a...-news-network/
.

thanks, I flew IIH's sister ship a day latter. My instructor (circa 24,000 hours) thinks the Cabri is a remarkably good ship. He loves it and so do I.

Top effort Ian and thanks for sharing. Glad you stayed in one bit.

Ian


Top man. You didn't over-react, you got it down, somewhere sensible, with no injuries or threat to people on the ground, and you vacated uninjured.


If you get to the UK, look me up and let's go flying!