IMC is no time to review your emergency procedures

[Ftlausa]

I got a real life reminder yesterday why it is good to periodically review your emergency procedures so that you have them committed to memory for when you need them.  I was returning home yesterday in IMC with 900 foot ceilings when I got smoke in the cockpit.  Thankfully the circuit breaker quickly did its job and tripped, making the smoke last only a few seconds.  But, it was enough to lead me to declare an emergency and to get vectored to the nearest airport for a precautionary landing. 

In IMC and with smoke coming from the panel is no time to be grabbing for the POH to review what to do or to try to remember which way the retaining clips on the fire extinguisher face.  It is also not an ideal time to try to grab and turn on the iPad for back up navigation if you end up turning off the power to the panel (to stop the smoke and prevent a fire).  Obviously the autopilot would disengage as well.    

Thankfully this episode ended well, and I was working through the emergency procedures when the emergency dissipated.  But it really got me thinking about what I would have done if I had lost the panel (G1000, radio and autopilot), and had to navigate in IMC and potentially shoot an approach (without ATC and using an iPad), or worse, executing an emergency decent and off airport landing in 900 foot ceilings if there had been a fire.

I am posting this in the hopes that it prompts others to review their emergency procedures, to practice accessing their emergency equipment before they need it, and to always your have your backup nav device programmed and in place before take off.  You never know when you might need it -- and it may not be on a beautiful VFR day.                  

[HXG]

Consider practicing a worst case scenario Ipad Emergency approach with Synthetic Vision in a safe environment. 

[Stephen]

I noticed there is a pretty big lag in using Foreflight synthetic vision with a Stratus. Trying to use it for an emergency descent would definitely be something you would want to practice preferably with a safety pilot. 

[HXG]

24 minutes ago, Stephen said:

I noticed there is a pretty big lag in using Foreflight synthetic vision with a Stratus. Trying to use it for an emergency descent would definitely be something you would want to practice preferably with a safety pilot. 

I agree. It’s a last resort with primary and backup instrument failures. I have practiced it with a safety pilot in a cessna 172 once. It worked well in the low stress  practice  environment. It’s a fun exercise in a simulator when you add bad weather and other system failures. I will say that it takes practice to do it well (i.e. activate legs on approach to use Ipad HSI etc.). 

Edited December 26, 2019 by HXG

[Bob - S50]

Good post by the OP.  However, there are only a few 'emergencies' that need to be memorized.  And even those you probably only need to memorize the first few steps.  The rest can be handled like the airlines.  At Northwest we had a 'red bordered checklist' that sat on the glareshield.  It was a single piece of paper.  While we don't keep it on the glareshield (but we do keep it someplace that can be easily reached), I created a small booklet that contained all the emergency procedures, normal procedures, and a few other useful bits of information. 

This is a screenshot of the front page.  It contains procedures that I think might require quick action.

[Ibra]

Well done and lucky you, 

While I do carry a backup tablet & handlheld radio, I would not attempt to stretch for an instrument airport in IMC with no electrics, so it will be a long way to search for VMC (if electrical fire stops) or land ASAP in the nearest field (you may need 1500ft agl ceiling to pull one), from reading few reports, it seems in the presence of cabin electrical fire you have max 5min to be on the ground, when electrical fire stops fuel endurance could be your best friend or worst enemy...

 

Edited December 26, 2019 by Ibra

[Yetti]

Which breaker popped?  What in the heck went wrong that you were popping breakers?

[Ftlausa]

Some sort of fault with the speed brakes.  Still being diagnosed.  

[carusoam]

Not too many things to go wrong with the motor powered speed brakes... that would cause smoke in the cabin...

1) Electrical short...

2) Stuck motor caused by limit sensor not working...

 

Thanks for sharing the details...

 

PP thoughts only, not a mechanic...

Best regards,

-a-

[GeeBee]

One of the first things I do with a new airplane is do a fault analysis of the electrical system. The M20R is a pretty robust electrical system but it does have some weak points. 

First thing with electrical fire or smoke is land ASAP:  AVIATE,, VENTILATE, NAVIGATE, COMMUNICATE. If night break out the flashlights.

Once you are on your way to the ground start your trouble shooting and in the M20R you need to split the system. You need to leave the essential bus powered and depower the non essential bus. You should be able to do that from memory. ALT field off, emergency power on, battery C/B pulled. DONE. I have my C/Bs with color coded collars, and I have the colors noted on the checklists so I loose no time locating them. I also have memorized their locations. You should have the Battery, Alt field, gear relay, gear motor and speed brakes all collared. After you have depowered the non-essential buss, wait a few minutes to see if the smoke has stopped. If it does not, then you have a choice. If VMC, just shut down the whole electrical system. If IMC you need to power up the non essential buss again, then  pull breakers on your essential buss one at a time until you find the culprit. Realistically, the offender should have popped already but if not, you have to hunt it down and kill it. With a G1000 the last thing you want to depower is your AHRS, you only have one and if you do, you need to go to the standby AI. The good news is if you have powered the non essential buss up, and it is a G1000/Stec system after two minutes the autopilot will be back up and level the airplane if you have to pull the AHRS C/B. You can't nav with it, but it will level the wings and hold altitude or descend  Also with the G1000, when you depower one screen you need to mash the red button to move all data to one screen.

The only uncontrollable item if you do this is the hot buss items. realistically current protection should have worked by now, but if it did not, make sure your cabin lights are off, that is all you can really control on the hot buss.

[PT20J]

1 hour ago, GeeBee said:

One of the first things I do with a new airplane is do a fault analysis of the electrical system. The M20R is a pretty robust electrical system but it does have some weak points. 

First thing with electrical fire or smoke is land ASAP:  AVIATE,, VENTILATE, NAVIGATE, COMMUNICATE. If night break out the flashlights.

Once you are on your way to the ground start your trouble shooting and in the M20R you need to split the system. You need to leave the essential bus powered and depower the non essential bus. You should be able to do that from memory. ALT field off, emergency power on, battery C/B pulled. DONE. I have my C/Bs with color coded collars, and I have the colors noted on the checklists so I loose no time locating them. I also have memorized their locations. You should have the Battery, Alt field, gear relay, gear motor and speed brakes all collared. After you have depowered the non-essential buss, wait a few minutes to see if the smoke has stopped. If it does not, then you have a choice. If VMC, just shut down the whole electrical system. If IMC you need to power up the non essential buss again, then  pull breakers on your essential buss one at a time until you find the culprit. Realistically, the offender should have popped already but if not, you have to hunt it down and kill it. With a G1000 the last thing you want to depower is your AHRS, you only have one and if you do, you need to go to the standby AI. The good news is if you have powered the non essential buss up, and it is a G1000/Stec system after two minutes the autopilot will be back up and level the airplane if you have to pull the AHRS C/B. You can't nav with it, but it will level the wings and hold altitude or descend  Also with the G1000, when you depower one screen you need to mash the red button to move all data to one screen.

The only uncontrollable item if you do this is the hot buss items. realistically current protection should have worked by now, but if it did not, make sure your cabin lights are off, that is all you can really control on the hot buss.

Excellent!!

Minor nit from an old EE -- it's bus, not buss. Buss is a kiss . (Yeah, I know, Mooney gets it wrong in some docs, too.)

Skip

[carusoam]

There seams to be 1% of people that have a reason to spell bus, buss...

Not sure why this happens...

There is a brand of fuses called Buss fuses... they probably go on a bus bar...

I always thought electrical buses were busses... because fuses are different than fusses...  

Where I worked we had a buss mixer... from a company Buss AG... pronounced Būs....

Best regards,

-a-

[aviatoreb]

12 minutes ago, carusoam said:

There seams to be 1% of people that have a reason to spell bus, buss...

Not sure why this happens...

There is a brand of fuses called Buss fuses... they probably go on a bus bar...

I always thought electrical buses were busses... because fuses are different than fusses...  

Where I worked we had a buss mixer... from a company Buss AG... pronounced Būs....

Best regards,

-a-

Now you are just being fussy about what is bussy.

[midlifeflyer]

5 hours ago, carusoam said:

There seams to be 1% of people that have a reason to spell bus, buss...

Not sure why this happens...

There is a brand of fuses called Buss fuses... they probably go on a bus bar...

I always thought electrical buses were busses... because fuses are different than fusses...  

Where I worked we had a buss mixer... from a company Buss AG... pronounced Būs....

Best regards,

-a-

Now I have a headache.

[GeeBee]

My spell check wants to go "buss" for some reason and I thought I had corrected them all, but I did not. Ohio and Clemson were playing at the time 

[cbarry]

Glad you made it to a safe landing!  Check the simple items first.  It could be as simple as a panel spacer (that’s supposed to have a panel screw going through it to hold it in place but was sandwiched instead) dropped out of its place and onto the top of the circuit breaker—I know this sounds too simple, but I’ve had it happen twice.  Of course, just shortly after the second occurrence is when a changed avionics shops!

[PT20J]

Not sure about other models, but on a J with the breaker switches located along the bottom of the panel, if you grab the bottom of the panel to pull the seat forward, you and deform the bus bar on the switches and cause a short (don’t ask me how I know this ).

Skip

[jghyde]

When I was a USAF pilot, at AETC bases (T-38s, T-1s, etc), we had a special category called "Inflight Precautionary." You'd declare that if you suspected an electrical fire may happen. If you smelled smoke indicating something burned, however, I'd just go ahead and call that an "Inflight Emergency" and accept all the traffic priority and fire trucks chasing you down the runway that entails. 

Sure, you performed a precautionary landing (wasn't forced), but I would declare an inflight emergency in this case regardless.

 

Edited December 30, 2019 by jghyde