CPA Mags 2016 1601 | Page 38

Hey…What’s That Smell? O My God the Airplane’s on Fire! By Jim Cavanagh What is the biggest fear we have when it comes to flying our airplanes? Is it a wing falling off? Is it busting an FAR and getting the FAA on your case? Is it the next engine inspection? How about snakes on a plane? The movie was about an airliner, but over thirty years ago I wrote a fiction short story about this on a small single engine aircraft and it IS very spooky. But snakes on a plane, while possible, is a concept difficult to collate with reality. Not so much, though, is fire! Many, many years ago, a friend of mine loaned his Bonanza to one of his buddies so that he and his girlfriend could take a trip to California. After a fuel stop, they taxied to the end of the runway but he never took off. His voice was never heard again. Witnesses saw smoke and drove to the run-up area and found the Bonanza engulfed in fla Y\