An aircraft catching fire is a risk pilots have to consider. Firstly, as a pilot, one should:
prevent fires from occurring
if they occur, extinguish them ASAP
if you cannot extinguish them, then make sure that you use any wind to blow the flames AWAY from the aircraft and not onto the aircraft where the people are if at all possible, and if you are on the ground, get out and away in case of explosion. Avgas is VERY volatile, and JetA1 is a slow burning paraffin, but it gets hot and can move fast.
Wearing 100% cotton, and leather, helps protect the body. Synthetic fabrics melt into the skin so you will be peeling your skin off with the melted fabric. Most clothes today have a very large synthetic component.
11 March 2023 -
Today I did an experiment....
I poured boiling water over my left hand to see how long you have to keep it in cool water before the burning sensation stops. I discovered it takes 10 hours.
Okay the truth is I did not intend to burn my hand, it was an accident because I was not paying full attention to what I was doing, but bubbling boiling water cascaded over my fingertips from the knuckle to the nail on my left hand. Yes, it was painful.
I immediately put it under cold tap water. This was 06h30 in the morning. I had a full day flying ahead booked with students that I was not prepared to miss.
I spent the day with my left hand in a cup of water. I added a block or two of ice every time the water temp increased, and the pain came back. (It was 35° outside). The cold water (not freezing - that would burn in the other direction - ) stopped the pain immediately. When I was flying and the water in my cup heated up too much, so that the burning pain started again and I couldn't get to any ice, I put my wet fingers in front of the air vent, while shading them from the sun, back in the water when they were dry and the cooling effect stopped, then back in front of the vent. This worked as well as the ice to prevent the pain but was not as convenient.
I googled pictures of people who have sustained burns from boiling water, and their injuries look a whole lot worse than mine. I burned my hand on 11March, and on 12 March I had no pain, and no medication. I had one relatively small blister on one finger. It did grow on one day but deflated in a few hours.
 | ← 18 March, I did put our home-made cream on my hands as it promotes healing and prevents infection. |
19 March, it made a blister (nature's plaster) after a few days, then deflated by itself and the skin started going crispy→ |  |
 | ← 24 March, it was quite fun to flake off the dead skin. I have no sign of the burn now. |
Step back about 18 years...
I trained a Paramedic, Yusef, to fly, many years ago in Richards Bay, KZN. He told me that he responded to an emergency where a man had burns on a large part of his body from a large cooking pot. They rushed to the scene where the man had 1st degree burns. They dressed the wounds and transported him to hospital. By the time they got to the hospital the burns had deepened to 3rd degree burns.
Yusef's conclusion was that you must keep cooling the burns, you cannot dress them and forget them, as the burns will keep deepening. If I recall, he said keep cooling the site for at least an hour.
My personal opinion now is to keep cooling the site until the burning sensation is no longer there when you remove the cooling.
Coffee burn
When my son was three, he was trying to help his granny by fetching her coffee when she was treating him to a trip to our local game reserve, Hluhluwe-Umfolozi. Piping hot coffee burned his chest and torso. My Paramedic student had already told me the above story, and I had told my mom. She immediately cooled my son down with water for about 45 minutes to an hour before they left to come home. The result was that there was no burn marks on his chest or stomach, but she had not put him into water, and as liquid drains downward, he was severely burned in his most tender area which I only found out when I got home from work that day.
We treated the area with a herbal healing cream my mother makes, she got the recipe from a dear friend, Ann Hutchings who studied the subject and taught at the University of Kwa- Zulu Natal. Ann cured many people from very serious wounds and Natal sores which are notoriously difficult to cure, with this natural remedy. The remedy promotes healing and has natural antibiotic and anti-viral properties.
We used Jelonet sterile bandages as dry bandages would cause more harm and pain. These bandages were recommended by our family doctor, whose biggest fear was that my son would suffer scarring.
I am happy to report that he recovered from the burn with NO SCARRING at all!
Aviator dies in KZN after suffereing severe burns
In July 2021 a local aviatior, who was living the dream, running flying safari's in South Africa and neighbouring countries, passed away after an avoidable accident just before his 50th birthday.
He and his son were flying low-level (that was their main draw card), to the north-east of Pietermaritzburg, scouting out new routes and landing areas. He did not see the low-slung power cable until he hit it, pulling him into the ground ahead where he caught on fire. His son, flying a few seconds behind him at the same level, had the presence of mind to check forward, then hard back with full power, and managed to duck under the cable and stagger out from underneath it towards rising ground.
His son landed about a kilometer away and hailed a nearby tractor who kindly drove him to his father's accident site. His father was walking up the hill, buck naked except for his belt, with his aircraft on fire behind him. His clothes had been burnt off. It was a miracle, and testament to his physical and mental strength, and quick aircraft handling under impossible conditions, that he got out of the wreck.
They tried to fly out for help in his son's aircraft, but the prop delaminated on some low trees as they lifted off... it was challenging terrain even for their "no runway required" aircraft, and they had to land again. It took two hours for the emergency aircraft to arrive to lift the father to hospital. His father passed away the next evening from his burns.
There was a small pond just below the aircraft crash site. I wonder... But we will never know.
Types of Fire Extinguishers
There are different types of fire extinguishers, each designed to combat specific types of fires:
Water Extinguishers: Effective against Class A fires (ordinary combustibles like paper, wood, and cloth).
Halon Extinguishers: Versatile and effective against Class B (flammable liquids), Class C (electrical fires), and Class A fires.
Dry Powder Extinguishers: Suitable for Class D fires (flammable metals).
Aircraft are usually equipped with Halon fire extinguishers; these extinguishers are damaging to the Ozone Layer, but unlike water they won't short out your remaining electrics in flight, and they won't obscure your vision and corrode what's left of your instruments like dry powder extinguishers. All extinguishers will suck the air out of your lungs, so hold your breath before using them in a confined space, (I know this due to personal experience, an L shaped wooden bed, a three-year-old with a fascination for matches, and a 9kg dry powder fire extinguisher - the house is still standing even though I caught him a week later dashing back to his room for "match strike mission no. 2" packing matches he swiped from a guest.
This said, fires in airplanes these days are not a common occurrence. We are usually not being shot at, and maintenance is usually proactive, though I have heard a few close miss fiery stories that will make your pilot hairs stand on end, but those are for another blog.
Please make sure you check your fire extinguisher for pressure in your preflight. Better to have it in good working order and not need it than have it not work if you ever do need it. Read the instructions of use now, before you need it... not like me... standing next to the fire licking it's hungry flames towards the ceiling while I had to pause to read the instructions "pull out pin, aim at fire, press trigger" - the instructions neglected to add "hold breath" - my coughing fit afterwards taught me that, and it was not from the smoke.
Remember to switch off the fuel and electrics for any forced landing, and also quickly if you do a landing with power into unfriendly terrain with kindling, a piping hot exhaust, possibly torn shorting electrics, or leaking oil pipes, encouraging flames with added fuel is a killer. You do not want to feed that fire explosive avgas, or with slower burning jet A1.
Fly safe, practice your emergency procedures. Hopefully you will never need them but rather have them in your mind and body as instinctual actions and not need them that not know them well enough and need them.
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