My Aircraft Engine on Fire True Story

This is a True Life Story of my first Flight of my life, as a pilot trainee, on an aircraft. This happened in Jan 1988. I could hardly sleep the previous night due to the excitement or the anxiety of getting into a jet engine aircraft cockpit and flying it as a trainee pilot.

All I knew till that night was how to ride a bicycle. Coming from a middle class family, I had no experience of driving even a motor cycle or a motor car. I was not an expert even in riding a bicycle because, my father always insisted that walking is the best exercise and a bicycle damages the knee joints. Only when he decided, did I get to ride a bicycle, which was normally to go to the market, five kilometers away from home and that too just twice a week.

When we had joined the Air Force Academy as Cadets, the first two weeks were spent in learning about the jet aircraft, how the aircraft flies, how the jet engines work, what are the maintenance routines on the aircraft, how much fuel it carries, how long can this aircraft fly in air with full fuel etc. Then there were classes on metrology, aerodynamics, airmanship which seemed to last a life time because they continued till we became pilots.

The Sun rise was at 6:30 am. But everyday, I woke up at 4:00 am, took a bath and was ready to go to the flying faculty by 5:00 am. The flight briefing was scheduled at 7:30 am. I took out my Flight Reference Card or FRC and started rehearsing my aircraft external checks and cockpit internal checks, starting up the engine procedures etc., because I was to go for my first flight of my life that day.

Although, we were told that the first aircraft flight will be familiarization, where the flying instructor will fly, and the pupil just needs to sit and enjoy the feeling of getting airborne like a free bird. But I had prepared myself for full starting up of engine and taxying on ground. I don't know how to fly the aircraft, so I will let my instructor do the flying. Moving the aircraft on ground using the engine and wheel brakes is called Taxy, not to be confused with what we call a hired car with spelling Taxi.

My First Flight Preparation Story

I was fully prepared to taxy the aircraft. I had practiced the whole night telling myself that, to move the aircraft forward, move the engine throttle a little forward to increase engine rpm by 5%, wait till the aircraft starts moving and then reduce the throttle back to idle setting. To turn right, apply full right rudder and a little bit of brake, to turn left apply full left rudder and brake. I was ready to taxy the aircraft on ground.

Finally, the moment arrived. The flight briefing was over and I along with my flying instructor who incidentally, had just got his flying instructor qualification the previous month. I was his first pupil. He was as apprehensive and under tension as I was, since both of us were new to this game. I learning to fly an aircraft for the first time in my life and my instructor learning to teach a real pupil for the first time in his life.

We were a Great combination, inside our two seat aircraft cockpit. The instructor accepted the aircraft by signing the aircraft document. My instructor showed me what all I should check in the aircraft document before signing for acceptance. I did not understand anything he said, but I said "Yes Sir."

Then the two of us proudly walked towards the dispersal where there were at least sixty single engine jet aircraft were parked in a long line along the dispersal edge. It was a photogenic scene. As the two of us marched towards the aircraft, my instructor taught me how to look at the sky for rain bearing clouds and the wind sock near the end of the runway to know the wind speed and direction. We reached our aircraft parked a 100 yards away and my instructor started telling me what all I should check on the aircraft externally.

My Confidence Shattered

Then we climbed the seven foot ladder and entered the cockpit. As my instructor strapped up on the seat, he was looking at me, how I was strapping up. If the straps are put wrongly and we happen to eject from the cockpit in flight in case of an emergency in the aircraft, I will not survive if the parachute has not been properly strapped to my body. My instructor had to correct one small mistake I did in my strapping up procedure.

We did the cockpit internal checks together. Actually my instructor was doing and I followed him. I was beaming with full confidence. We tightened our flying helmets called bone dome and rechecked the radio connection. My instructor requested permission from the Air Traffic Controller (ATC) to start the aircraft engine.

Then my instructor pressed the most important button in the cockpit called the engine start button, and advanced the HP cock or High Pressure Fuel Cock into the slot. The jet engine of the jet aircraft roared into my ears. And that roaring of the engine made me forget all that I had studied the previous night till this morning. The sound of the roaring engine and the aircraft vibrations due to that actually scared me and shattered my confidence.

After a few minutes of engine startup, I was at ease. We did all the cockpit checks together and were ready to taxy out of the dispersal to the taxy tracks leading to the runway end for a takeoff. My instructor indicated to the ground crew outside the aircraft by waving off action with his hands to remove the wheel chocks. I checked left, right and taxy path ahead is clear.

I asked my instructor, "Sir can I taxy the aircraft."

My instructor replied, "Once the aircraft is clear of all the aircraft parked in the dispersal, I will let you handle the aircraft."

There were over a hundred aircraft including sixty jet aircraft and some forty odd propellor aircraft parked in the dispersal. Why he said that, was a precaution to ensure that by mistake the first timer like me does not taxy the aircraft by mistake into any parked aircraft.

I said, "OK Sir."

I waited anxiously for my turn to taxy. We went past the last aircraft at the end of the dispersal and turned towards the link taxy track.

I reminded my instructor, "Sir, if I could take over the control of the aircraft and try my hand at taxying the aircraft."

My instructor looked at me and then reluctantly handed over controls and said, "You have the controls."

I reciprocated, "I have the controls, Sir."

That was the happiest moment in my entire flying career. Getting to taxy an aircraft well before my first flight even started. I moved the engine throttle a bit forward and continued to taxy.

As the speed increased, I reduced the throttle back to idle setting. By now I was in love with the engine noise and the aircraft vibrations. In any case, if something goes wrong, my instructor is there like God himself sitting next to me, who will save the situation.

My Aircraft Refused to Turn Story

The taxy track turns right after ten odd meters. As I approached the turn, I called out, “Full right rudder, brake”.

And I did give full right rudder and pressed the brake using my right foot. But the magic failed to happen. The aircraft did not turn right. I tried pressing the brake again with my right leg, but the aircraft just won’t turn right. I asked myself, what am forgetting something? I had no idea why the aircraft was not turning.

That is when I thought to try the other brake. Without calling out anything, I moved the left rudder fully forward with my left leg and pressed the brake on the rudder with my left foot. Amazingly, the aircraft started turning left.

Immediately, I gave full right rudder and pressed the right brake with my right leg since we had to turn right. But the aircraft refused to turn right. I could not figure out why she won’t turn right.

My instructor calmly told me, "Son, I have the controls."

I took my hands and legs off the joy stick, engine throttle and rudders. My instructor also could not make the aircraft turn right, but could make it turn left.

My instructor said, "We have a right brake failure."

My Instructor switched off the engine at that turning called Charlie Link and told me, "Put off all the switches and pull out all circuit breakers, except the battery switch and inverter."

I asked him, "Sir why not the Battery also Off?"

My instructor said, "We need the battery to power the radio. We need to call the ATC to send the ground team to send a ladder to climb down from the cockpit. And we need the inverter for the fire warning system to work."

Good thinking, I thought. But I did not realize that, I had by mistake switched off the inverter switch along with all other switches.

My Aircraft Engine on Fire Story Starts

Within a few seconds of switching off the engine, I saw some smoke coming out of my side engine air intake. I was alarmed and told my instructor, "Sir some smoke is coming out of the air intake of the engine on my side".

My instructor said, "After you switch off an aircraft engine, it always emits some smoke. That is absolutely normal. Don't worry."

As he was talking to me, the smoke coming out of my side engine air intake became thick and black in color with a pungent smell.

I cut my instructor off and said loudly, “Sir, now the smoke has increased and it is very thick and black with a pungent smell.”

The cockpit canopy was still in the partially open condition and locked, exactly as it was when we had started taxying. And this thick smoke was coming into my side through the partially open cockpit canopy.

My instructor realized this and said, "Close the cockpit canopy and put on your Oxygen mask."

We had removed our oxygen mask after we had switched off the engine. That is when we heard another aircraft flying above us give a call on radio, "ATC please dispatch a crash fire tender to the aircraft on Taxy Track at Charlie Link."

Hearing this my instructor asked me, "Hey look around and tell me which aircraft is behind us."

I found no aircraft ahead of us or behind us, up to 200 yards and replied, "Sir, we are the only aircraft at Charlie link on the taxy track."

And the Fire Warning light inside my cockpit did not illuminate because it was not functioning as I had by mistake put off the inverter switch.

My Aircraft Engine on Fire Story

By then one Flight Lieutenant of Air Force, who was our Air Engineering Officer of the Training Establishment there came running but stopped about 50 yards short of our aircraft. As I looked at him, I saw he was shouting something. We could not hear because we still had the Bone dome on our head which cuts out all external sounds and our cockpit canopy was also closed and locked.

But I could read his lips. He was repeatedly saying, “Fire in Your Engine. Get Out of the Cockpit.”

A couple of day’s back a few of us had gone for a Tom Cruize movie called “Top Gun”. After seeing that movie, I knew that when there is smoke coming out of an aircraft, the next thing to happen is an explosion with lot of flame and the aircraft will be destroyed.

The moment, I read his lips saying Fire, I was in panic. I shouted at my instructor, "The Air Engineer is saying there is fire in our engine behind, get out of the cockpit."

My Instructor very calmly said, “OK, don't worry, there is no fire it is just smoke. Otherwise the fire warning light would have come On. Nothing to worry as of now. You put the battery and inverter switches off. Insert your ejection seat pins and unstrap. Open the canopy fully and exit the cockpit slowly."

In my panic I hardly heard him say put the ejection seat pin in before you get out of the cockpit. The pilot seats in all fighter aircraft including trainer aircraft have ejection seats. In case of an emergency like fire in flight, there are two handles, one above the pilot head and the other between his thighs.

Pulling any of these handles will fire the ejection seat into the air clear of the aircraft travelling at high speeds.

When you pull any one of these two handles, the seat will fire itself out of the cockpit at 25 G force, shattering the cockpit canopy above your head, with the pilot still strapped on to the seat.

If you are not sitting up right, then you will lose a limb or break you neck or back bone because your body weight becomes 25 times that of you normal weight during the firing of the ejection seat.

The pilot is supposed to first fire the canopy button and eject the cockpit canopy first and then pull one of the ejection handles as per procedure. Once outside the aircraft, a small three feet parachute comes out first and stops the seat from spinning and stabilizes it.

In a couple of seconds this small parachute will pull out the big 27 feet diameter parachute and at the same time a cartridge fires which separates the hundred kilogram heavy seat from the pilot. Even if the pilot is unconscious, the parachute ensures a safe landing of the pilot on ground or water.

So after you enter the cockpit and strap up on the pilot seat, you remove the ejection pins and keep it in you flying overall pocket. After you land back, you will first insert the two ejection seat pins before you unstrap from the pilot seat.

And if you forget to put the seat pins in after landing the aircraft, and one of your legs get entangled in the ejection seat handle and gets pulled, you will get ejected from the cockpit at least a 100 meters into the air fall on ground and die.

I Ran For Life From Aircraft on Fire Story

I was so blind with panic due to the thick smoke coming from the air intake of the engine that, the Fire in Engine call by the Air Engineer and my instructor’s call to unstrap from the seat triggered some violent action in me.

I immediately unstrapped all the seat safety straps, opened the cockpit canopy, jumped from my seat over the cockpit on to the ground seven feet below and ran for my life before the whole aircraft exploded into a ball of fire.

I kept running for some time, stopped and looked back. I could not believe. How can the aircraft not explode as I saw in the movie? In the movies, the aircraft always exploded and I was very sure of that.

My aircraft was still smoking a little, but much lesser than before. And now, there was a big crowd of people around the aircraft. My instructor was still standing on his seat in the cockpit waiting for the ladder to climb down. Very slowly I started jogging back towards my aircraft praying to God, that no one sees me.

I somehow reached and mingled into the crowd that had gathered there. I saw our Chief Flying Instructor or CFI in short, driving down in his own car towards our aircraft. The moment the CFI got out of his car, the Air Engineering Officer, who was the one responsible for me to run away over 200 yards from my aircraft, went running to the CFI and saluted him.

How Did My Aircraft Catch Fire Story

During the briefing I heard the Air Engineering Officer say, “Sir, they had switched off the aircraft due to a brake failure. The brake fluid probably leaked into the engine exhaust pipe which was still hot and it caught fire. I saw the fire, Sir. It took us three portable fire extinguishers to be fired through the air intake and two through the jet exhaust to extinguish the fire. It could have been catastrophic, Sir.”

The CFI just smiled at the Air Engineer. Then he walked towards the aircraft where the ladder was just put and my instructor was coming down from the cockpit.

My instructor stopped and said a bit loud, “Where is my pupil?”

I replied, “I am here, Sir”.

He looked at me and said, “You duffer, give me the ejecting seat pins”.

I was embarrassed. I had jumped off the seat without making the ejection seat safe by inserting the pins. Had my foot or hand were to entangle in the top or bottom ejection handles, the ejection seat would have fired me about 100 meters into the air at 25 G force which would have as such broken my back bone or neck. Secondly, since I was no more strapped to the seat, I would have free fallen on concrete taxy track from a 100 meters height and got killed.

I Was Scared Story

The CFI came near the cockpit and looked at me and asked me, “Son, are you Scared?”

I answered, “No Sir”.

Even though my entire body was still shaking violently with fear, I was trying desperately to hide it from the CFI. The CFI looked at his wrist watch and then at my Instructor. After that he looked at the sky.

As the CFI started walking away towards his car he told my instructor, “It is only 5:45 pm. There is enough light, you can still take him in another aircraft and land back before sunset.”

I almost fainted on hearing that. I just escaped death and the CFI wants me to try my luck in under ten minutes, once again? This can’t be true.

The CFI looked at me and said, "Both of you, come with me."

My instructor and I went back to the hangar with the CFI, in his car. We accepted another aircraft which was ready to fly, entered the cockpit, strapped up, started the engine as the Sun set approached.

First of all I did not want to fly again after the engine fire episode. Secondly, I did not know how to say No to my instructor or to the CFI. I was stuck for good.

My Aircraft Engine Caught Fire Story Ends

We taxied out of the dispersal. This time I did not request my instructor for a ground taxy. I was scared to touch the aircraft controls. We reached the runway, lined up for take off and asked the ATC for permission for takeoff.

How I wished the ATC doesn't give permission for take off. Unfortunately, the ATC gave permission. I sat motionless in the cockpit unable to shake off what had happened a few minutes ago in the first aircraft.

The moment this second Jet Engine aircraft, started thundering down the runway for takeoff, my heart started skipping beats. I stayed frozen throughout those few minutes. I just wanted the aircraft to land back. I was ready to leave the flying training academy and go back home. I did not to fly any more in my life.

I was very sure my aircraft engine is going to catch fire again. Instead of looking ahead, I wanted to turn my seat around and look at my aircraft engine during flying to ensure that my aircraft jet engine has not caught fire again during flying as my instructor was flying the aircraft.

That flight was just a takeoff followed by flying a short circuit and land back, totaling less than five minutes between takeoff and landing. I have had flights of up to six hours at a stretch in my 35 years of flying career. Believe me, this five minutes flight, was the longest flying of my life.

My instructor was explaining how joy stick is used, how I should not use the rudder in a jet aircraft because the aircraft starts turning the moment we put on bank, where I should look when flying an aircraft and so on and on and on.

It looked as if time had stopped after my aircraft got airborne. Everything was moving so slow including my wrist watch needles. I yearned to be back on mother earth. I heard nothing of what he was instructing me. I was busy praying to God to make my instructor think of landing the aircraft back so that I can get out of that cockpit and run back to safety.

And finally, when the aircraft landed, I must have been the happiest man on earth at that moment. That flight was just a takeoff followed by flying a short circuit and land back, totaling less than five minutes between takeoff and landing.

I have had flights of up to 12 hours at a stretch in my 35 years of flying career. Believe me, this five minutes flight, was the longest flying of my life. This is a True Story.

Next Story