You're at cruise working on your laptop when...

Apophis said:
Does it really matter? The laptop could technically be in standby mode in your luggage when it caught fire. The pilot wouldn't necessarily have to be hacking away at the keyboard when the laptop erupts into flames.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I need to have all the information before I give my answer.

Was kind of laptop was it?
If it was a mac, which iOS did it have?
If it was a PC, which version of Windows did it have?
How big was the battery?
How many volts were left in the battery?
What was the size of the screen?
Does it have a built in disk drive?
How big is the hard drive?
What type of hard drive?
 
Pull the chute. Airflow over the doors should be slow enough that a pilot can muscle one open enough to toss the laptop out.

Only do that if you're absolutely 100% certain that you can open the doors, otherwise you're screwed. If you don't think that's an option, emergency descent may be another tool in the bag.
 
As much as the chute is the last option for me in the cirrus I fly, given your scenario if you couldn't put out the fire then deploying the chute sounds like a good option, especially if smoke begins to overwhelm you and the fire extinguisher is ineffective.

And if you don't pull the chute and can still fly the aircraft who cares whether there is a towered airport 25 miles away and a non-towered one 10 miles away? I'll land at the nearest airport every time if you can make it there.
 
If it's so dire that a single laptop would take me and the plane out, screw it and land in the nearest field below you. Forget the airports, if the sucker is on fire just aim straight down and find the best landing spot possible. It's a Cirrus, sure, but it's still just a small piston single. I don't need a tower or even a paved runway to land.
 
gotWXdagain said:
Pull the chute. Airflow over the doors should be slow enough that a pilot can muscle one open enough to toss the laptop out.

Only do that if you're absolutely 100% certain that you can open the doors, otherwise you're screwed. If you don't think that's an option, emergency descent may be another tool in the bag.
Click to expand...

You never use the parachute with an uncontained fire. Never.

You can get the aircraft on the ground much faster using an emergency descent. Not only that, but as I already mentioned, the Cirrus SR22 has a fire extinguisher installed near the pilot's left ankle, on the left side of the airplane.
 
AviatorGator said:
As much as the chute is the last option for me in the cirrus I fly, given your scenario if you couldn't put out the fire then deploying the chute sounds like a good option, especially if smoke begins to overwhelm you and the fire extinguisher is ineffective.

And if you don't pull the chute and can still fly the aircraft who cares whether there is a towered airport 25 miles away and a non-towered one 10 miles away? I'll land at the nearest airport every time if you can make it there.
Click to expand...

Sorry if this is graphic, but THIS is why you don't deploy the parachute when there's a fire. Especially one that can't be extinguished.


And yes, I know this was after a midair collision and the pilot had no choice but to use the parachute.
 
Jimmy_Norton said:
If it was a mac, which iOS did it have?
Click to expand...

Trick question. Macs run Mac OS X.

I flew an SR20 for awhile and I think it would definitely be possible to open a door in a slow speed slip. Problem is can you focus long enough to do that?

If you can't get it out the door at least pop both of the doors for some ventilation and place the laptop on the floor in the back. If I remember correctly there isn't anything under the floor back there. Maybe the cargo area? I know the rudder and elevator cables run through the middle so as far off to the side as possible. I'm thinking if it gets too hot it just melts through the floor.

Also, as far as extinguishing the fire. The reason these things catch fire is because they reach a state called thermal runaway. The only way to keep it from continuing to burn is to cool the battery and prevent it from generating anymore current. Water is your best chance at putting thing out. The halon extinguisher in the Cirrus (halon according to my Cirrus POH Section 7) is just going to snuff the flames and potentially suffocate you. That's why these things are so dangerous. They're travelling around in cargo bins of airliners daily. Typically Halon is all we have for fire suppression in these bins.

Reference on Li-Ion type fires:
 
Apophis said:
Sorry if this is graphic, but THIS is why you don't deploy the parachute when there's a fire. Especially one that can't be extinguished.


And yes, I know this was after a midair collision and the pilot had no choice but to use the parachute.
Click to expand...

Yeah I think the midair collision case and the question from the OP are apples and oranges. I should have also qualified that one of the reasons I would say deploy the chute would be to throw the laptop out of the door. Once again, that would be my last resort, but an aircraft under the control of the parachute is better than an aircraft out of control because the pilot is incapacitated.

Also, one more thing to the OP. I wouldn't recommend using the laptop at that altitude anyway, especially if it is equipped with a standard hard drive. A lot of laptops (like the one I'm using now) have a maximum pressure altitude limit of 10,000'. I knew someone a couple years ago that fried their hard drive because he was using his laptop at 13k+ several nights in a row.
 
Apophis said:
Sorry if this is graphic, but THIS is why you don't deploy the parachute when there's a fire. Especially one that can't be extinguished.


And yes, I know this was after a midair collision and the pilot had no choice but to use the parachute.
Click to expand...

That exact situation is what I was thinking when I mentioned you have to be 100% certain the door will come open for you. But you're right, emergency descent would probably be the better option once it starts to cook off. Hopefully you can get down before it really starts smoking.
 
Apophis said:
You can get the aircraft on the ground much faster using an emergency descent. Not only that, but as I already mentioned, the Cirrus SR22 has a fire extinguisher installed near the pilot's left ankle, on the left side of the airplane.
Click to expand...

Somehow I doubt you are going to have a Class D extinguisher up there. Anything else is useless or will just make the fire worse or kill you (halon).
 
In the G-IV, a laptop battery thermal runaway its depressurize, slow to 160kts, crack open the baggage door and toss that sucker out.
 
If I had to, I'd make an off-airport landing. If the smoke is getting to me, I'm not flying 25 or even 10nm to the nearest airport. I value my life more than the airplane.
 
Grab my cell phone, select my attorney on the list, send picture and text from 9000 feet, then text update at 1000 feet.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Space Monkey
The "good" ol' days...
Replies
6
Views
5K
///AMG
///AMG
ppragman
Know your route
Replies
9
Views
2K
ppragman
ppragman
citrus
Bridging The Gap – Why We Need To Teach Pilots How To Use EFB
Replies
6
Views
3K
Ian_J
Ian_J
jhugz
Kalitta Air Info (K4)
4 5 6
Replies
102
Views
34K
nibake
nibake
wdwatts
Captain Kila's State of the (Aviation) Union Address
7 8 9
Replies
175
Views
24K
Autothrust Blue
Autothrust Blue
Back
Top