"what's burning?"

Well it was late spring in the old Cessna 152. My friend a
non-current pilot and I went up to put some holes in the sky. We did
some touch and goes at 2 airport not more than 30 miles from my home
base in central Connecticut. We flew low down the Connecticut River
enjoying the view. As we, approached Long Island Sound at 1400 feet we
flew down the shoreline and then headed north toward the airport. With
a pattern of 1400 ft, I decided there was no reason to climb.
Just then, I got whiff of a strange odor. I looked at my friend
and asked, "Do you smell that?" He answered with a loud "YES!" It
smelled as if we were on fire, but smelled electrical. I could not see
a flame and the engine and gauges were fine. The smell got stronger
now and I started to get nervous, scanning the ground for an off site
landings spot, just in case. I made a quick decision to gain altitude,
while the engine was running. Just then, the RPM dropped about 300,
black smoke puffed from the cowling, and then the RPM came back up. We
both looked at each other with terror. The closest and most familiar
airport was only 8 more miles north, so we pressed on. I put the
throttle in and climbed to 2,000 feet and leveled, the engine was
running and altitude was my friend. I called CTAF and asked the Piper
in front of me to let me have priority, explaining the situation. He
kindly obliged. The CFI got on the frequency and asked about the
problem, which is explained. I stayed high until turning base leg,
when the "low voltage" light came illuminated. We landed nicely
and turned off mid-field of the 2500 foot paved strip, and I
immediately shut everything down and stop near the hanger. We climb
out enjoying the fresh air, trying to get the odor out of our noses. I
wrote down the Hobbs time and walked into the FBO, who was now happy to
see me and the plane relatively unharmed.
In a conversation explaining the events to the director of the FBO, he
immediately gave me the answer, that I needed to know, and a walk back
to the plane confirmed it. The alternator had seized, and the belt was
still attached. The black smoke and burning smell was the rubber from
the belt. The RPM drop may have been cause by the belt briefly
cinching up. It also explained the low voltage light as well.
I went home and enjoyed a few cold beers. The worst part was not
knowing the problem or what was going to happen next. The plane was
flying the next morning, and me, in the same plane the very next week.

It would not have occured to me that a seized alternator can do all
this. Your posting was educational. Thanks for sharing. Sounds like you
did well.



"569" wrote in news:1103559749.969177.305450
@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

Well it was late spring in the old Cessna 152. My friend a
non-current pilot and I went up to put some holes in the sky. We did
some touch and goes at 2 airport not more than 30 miles from my home
base in central Connecticut. We flew low down the Connecticut River
enjoying the view. As we, approached Long Island Sound at 1400 feet
we
flew down the shoreline and then headed north toward the airport.
With
a pattern of 1400 ft, I decided there was no reason to climb.
Just then, I got whiff of a strange odor. I looked at my friend
and asked, "Do you smell that?" He answered with a loud "YES!" It
smelled as if we were on fire, but smelled electrical. I could not
see
a flame and the engine and gauges were fine. The smell got stronger
now and I started to get nervous, scanning the ground for an off site
landings spot, just in case. I made a quick decision to gain
altitude,
while the engine was running. Just then, the RPM dropped about 300,
black smoke puffed from the cowling, and then the RPM came back up.
We
both looked at each other with terror. The closest and most familiar
airport was only 8 more miles north, so we pressed on. I put the
throttle in and climbed to 2,000 feet and leveled, the engine was
running and altitude was my friend. I called CTAF and asked the Piper
in front of me to let me have priority, explaining the situation. He
kindly obliged. The CFI got on the frequency and asked about the
problem, which is explained. I stayed high until turning base leg,
when the "low voltage" light came illuminated. We landed nicely
and turned off mid-field of the 2500 foot paved strip, and I
immediately shut everything down and stop near the hanger. We climb
out enjoying the fresh air, trying to get the odor out of our noses.
I
wrote down the Hobbs time and walked into the FBO, who was now happy
to
see me and the plane relatively unharmed.
In a conversation explaining the events to the director of the FBO, he
immediately gave me the answer, that I needed to know, and a walk back
to the plane confirmed it. The alternator had seized, and the belt
was
still attached. The black smoke and burning smell was the rubber from
the belt. The RPM drop may have been cause by the belt briefly
cinching up. It also explained the low voltage light as well.
I went home and enjoyed a few cold beers. The worst part was not
knowing the problem or what was going to happen next. The plane was
flying the next morning, and me, in the same plane the very next week.

It is surprising how much power can be transmitted thru a belt. If
this had been one of the smaller Continental engines, that gear drive
would have broken off and dropped down loose inside the crankcase!
Interesting!

In article .com,
"569" wrote:


to the plane confirmed it. The alternator had seized, and the belt was
still attached. The black smoke and burning smell was the rubber from
the belt.

I have a friend who is a skydiver and pilot. He was going to make a
skydive from a 182 that was being flown with no door on it. Just after
takeoff they noticed a burning smell and lots of smoke coming from the
engine compartment. Thinking the airplane was on fire he jumped at
about 250-300 feet barely getting his parachute open. The airplane
landed just off the airport in a field, no damage or injuries. It was
the generator belt in this case also. G

--
Dale L. Falk

There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing
as simply messing around with airplanes.

http://home.gci.net/~sncdfalk/flying.html

"569" wrote in message
oups.com...

snip

alternator had seized, and the belt was
still attached. The black smoke and burning smell was the rubber from
the belt. The RPM drop may have been cause by the belt briefly
cinching up. It also explained the low voltage light as well.
I went home and enjoyed a few cold beers. The worst part was not
knowing the problem or what was going to happen next. The plane was
flying the next morning, and me, in the same plane the very next week.


BRAVO!!

to the plane confirmed it. The alternator had seized, and the belt was
still attached. The black smoke and burning smell was the rubber from
the belt. The RPM drop may have been cause by the belt briefly
cinching up. It also explained the low voltage light as well.
I went home and enjoyed a few cold beers. The worst part was not
knowing the problem or what was going to happen next. The plane was
flying the next morning, and me, in the same plane the very next week.


I recently had my alternator seize up in my truck, preventing me from
starting it. I intially thought it was a problem with the clutch not
disengaging because I had just had the clutch replaced, but it turned out
that the alternator was the culprit. I previously had only experienced
diode failures in alternators, so this was the first time that I had seen
bearings seize up. It may not be terribly common, but it can happen. It
is definitely freakier to have it happen to you in an airplane in flight.
The fertile imagination can come up with all kinds of terrible scenarios
when smoke puffs out of the cowl and the RPM drops! Good job keeping your
cool, I hope that you didn't have far to go home to change your underwear...

Dean

Cessna, at least, requires alternator brush inspection every 500
hours. Most alternators have to come off and be opened up for this, and
bad bearings, which are normally responsible for seized alternators,
become apparent at that time. I know there's a lot of alternators out
there not getting the service they need, because it takes an extra hour
or so and costs $15 for brushes. Bearings are cheap. Magnetos need the
same care.
We normally find that alternator brushes go 1000 hours, and mag
points about the same. Bearings should be good to TBO, but if it takes
20 years to get there they dry out and could make trouble.

Dan

250-300 feet? I assume this was a base jumping parachute? My Nav240
would still have the pilot chute halfway out in a 250-300 foot drop
timespan.


Dale wrote:
In article .com,
"569" wrote:


to the plane confirmed it. The alternator had seized, and the belt
was
still attached. The black smoke and burning smell was the rubber
from
the belt.

I have a friend who is a skydiver and pilot. He was going to make a
skydive from a 182 that was being flown with no door on it. Just
after
takeoff they noticed a burning smell and lots of smoke coming from
the
engine compartment. Thinking the airplane was on fire he jumped at
about 250-300 feet barely getting his parachute open. The airplane
landed just off the airport in a field, no damage or injuries. It
was
the generator belt in this case also. G

--
Dale L. Falk

There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing
as simply messing around with airplanes.

http://home.gci.net/~sncdfalk/flying.html

In article .com,
"Raul Ruiz" wrote:

250-300 feet? I assume this was a base jumping parachute? My Nav240
would still have the pilot chute halfway out in a 250-300 foot drop
timespan.


It was a round, Para-commander I think. Back when men were men and
parachutes were round. G

--
Dale L. Falk

There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing
as simply messing around with airplanes.

http://home.gci.net/~sncdfalk/flying.html

I have a red/white/blue French Pap sitting here next to me.
Wanna do some accuracy?

Dale wrote:
It was a round, Para-commander I think. Back when men were men and
parachutes were round. G