Firewall

I saw a Glasair that had an oil fire just after departure. The tower
called him and told him that he was smoking. He made an immediate 180 and
landed the opposite direction. He said that the Fire Dept was hosing him
down as he was still rolling. He said that total flight time was only 2
or 3 minutes.

His firewall was aluminum / fiberfrax / fiberglass covered rohacell. The
aluminum must have melted almost immediately, this allowed the fiberfrax to
move away from the fiberglass covered rohacell. The fire then burned
through fiberglass/rohacell and entered the right side of the cockpit, good
thing he didn't have a passenger. Glasairs have their fuel tank in the
forward section of the wing. The fire now starts burning his into his wing
fuel tank. Only one layer of fiberglass separated the fire from fuel when
the Fire Dept had it put out.

After seeing this I decided to go with stainless. If you have a fire at
altitude you'll sure wish you had not used aluminum. The extra one or two
pounds of a better metal may save your life.

Russell Sherwood
Houston TX



"Flyhighdave" wrote in message
...
I'm building a Barracuda-!/4in. plywood firewall. What is the best
material for
the fire barrier? .16 stainless or .16 2024 T-3 with a layer of 1/8in.
fiberfrax sandwiched between the aluminum & the plywood? I'd like to go
with
the aluminum because of weight if it & the fiberfrax are an appropriate
combination. Are there any other materials I should be considering?
Thanks!
David