Sad sight out the window

maddog52

maddog52

Line Up and Wait
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maddog52
I missed the event but took a couple of pictures of what's left of this 172 at KRYY (Cobb County/McCollum Field,GA). One of our tennants was watching as the owners pulled it out this morning to crank it up. They apparently ran the battery down trying to start it and then borrowed an external power cart. Don't know how the fire started, but the entire plane was engulfed before the fire department got there just a few minutes after it all started. Luckily, no injuries reported.

Nothing left but the engine block, motor mount and maingear still upright in the wreckage. Luckily, there was no wind so there was no damage to the neighboring hangars and cars in the adjacent parking lot. Sad end to a nice airplane.

Sorry for the quality of the pics, but I took them with my old cellphone.

Fly Safe,

Maddog
 

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armchair quarterbacking says they flooded it ... badly ... and then drew a spark with the external cart

very glad to hear no one was hurt.
 
If it's an R or later, I'm betting they ran the fuel pump forever. I saw that a lot at GVL on the S models. Some renters would run the pump so long, fuel would be in a puddle under the cowling. Someone would have to run out and stop them from starting.

So far, I'm finding nothing in the local news. If I can remember tomorrow morning, I'll ask the tower what the tail number is.
 
Mitch, without your explanation I would have believed you took the picture last summer in that Georgia heat of yours! ;)
 
skyflyer8 said:
Mitch, without your explanation I would have believed you took the picture last summer in that Georgia heat of yours! ;)
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It's gotten pretty warm the last couple days. Turning into the sun at 7.30AM at 3,000 feet was a good way to start sweating on Friday morning. That follows having to preheat on the ground when it was thirty degrees.

There's still nothing in the local news and the controller couldn't tell me anything.
 
We had an airplane catch on fire a few days ago, thankfully it didn't reach the same fate!
 
Richard said:
I'm going to guess they hooked the cart to the battery in reverse polarity.
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The word around these parts is the battery exploded. They were using the aux plug so maybe it was wired incorrectly. Doesn't look like there's much left to investigate.
 
Richard O said:
The word around these parts is the battery exploded. They were using the aux plug so maybe it was wired incorrectly. Doesn't look like there's much left to investigate.
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It just occurred to me, the fire department is off the end of 9. What took them so long?
 
I have seen many aircraft batteries that have exploded using a 24 volt APU on a 12 volt battery. The same size plug is used for both voltages. I put a placard beside my 172 APU plug with wording "12 volt only". We don't have many 12 volt aircraft in the shop but I always remind the mechanics of the difference.

Regards, Kevin
 
Wow, I hadn't been to RYY since Tuesday, I am heading out there today. I will see if anyone at the school knows any more details.
 
Note to self: Buy a few more fire extinguishers at Costco and mount them in the hangar....and in the house.
 
man, what a bummer. I've heard horror stories about batteries exploding, but I've not actually seen it myself. Supposedly, a battery produces ignitable gasses as it charges...which is why you connect the negative to a ground other than the - terminal when jump starting a car. I wonder what caused this battery to explode if they were using the aux plug?
 
kmead said:
I have seen many aircraft batteries that have exploded using a 24 volt APU on a 12 volt battery. The same size plug is used for both voltages. I put a placard beside my 172 APU plug with wording "12 volt only". We don't have many 12 volt aircraft in the shop but I always remind the mechanics of the difference.

Regards, Kevin
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We have a winner! The airplane involved was a 1976 Cessna 182. From what I can figure out, Cessna changed to the 28 volt system in 1978. The airplane hadn't been flown in months and was jumped with a 28 volt power cart. The battery exploded. The fire department was there in minutes, but unless they were there at the time of ignition, there wasn't much they could do. It was all over in less than 10 minutes.

Lesson to learn here is know your aircraft. If a procedure you are unfamilar with or haven't done in a while is being performed, consult the AFM.
 

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I'm not thrilled about more regulation but this sounds like as good a place as any for an AD mandating a placard by the GPU access for a 12V system.

It would be good, if nothing more, than just for the safety of ground personnel who are handling the GPU considering there are enough of those folks who may not be all that experienced in aircraft electrical systems.

It's a sad loss of an airplane. Thankfully, no one was injured.
 
I'm surprised that the plugs are the same for 14 v and 28 v. We don't do that on AC current, how hard would it be to standardize it for DC. That and the placard that Kenny mentioned.
 
Richard O said:
We don't do that on AC current, how hard would it be to standardize it for DC.
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Define "We" I have seen US style plugs for 100VAC, 110VAC, 120VAC, and 220VAC. Depends on the country.

Now as for hard it would be to standardize? Pretty hard actually. There are already hundreds of variations on plugs, plug sizes, and voltages. There are so many that when it comes time to figure out what plug you need one has to look it up into a book. An attempt to globally standardize these would lead to many companies, countries and individuals each trying to get their preference accepted as the standard.

To see this on a smaller scale look at cellphone headsets. The wired one have a global standardized 3.5mm plug. No one uses it. It also took 7 years to get the standard written.
 
Do I win anything thing? Something like a nice GPS for the 172 or maybe the shop's Products liability premium in June. Believe me that 50K insurance premium comes in handy for claims like this or maybe a 212K engine repair. I still love coming in to work each day.

Regards, Kevin
 
smigaldi said:
To see this on a smaller scale look at cellphone headsets. The wired one have a global standardized 3.5mm plug. No one uses it. It also took 7 years to get the standard written.
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And, that wasn't even a division under congressional control!

A simple AD for a placard should do the trick. If one cannot read English clearly enough, they have committed fraud on the 8710.
 
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