On my pre-solo phase check, I had just finished all the maneuvers and turned to head back to the airport when we (my examiner and I) smelled an unforgettable odor and saw what resembled smoke coming from the instrument panel. We turned off everything electrical and diverted to an non-towered airport just west of our home airport and about 3 nm from our current position, which was also where the flight school's maintenance center was located, conveniently killing two birds with one stone. We landed uneventfully and hitched a ride back home.
There really wasn't much smoke at all, but the smell was overwhelmingly strong, and I'll never forget that feeling of vulnerability when we entered the traffic pattern with no working radios and had to flip on the master for an instant to lower full flaps before switching it off again. Nothing like a reminder of our own mortality to maintain a healthy dose of respect for the dangers of flight.
On the plus side, I got to loiter in the maintenance hangar for a good hour or two and check out Michael Goulian's Extra and a beautiful Pitts
. . . And, as fate would have it, I flew the same plane on my first cross-country and on my PPL checkride, so I guess we got the fire out of the way on the right flight
Similar Threads
Linear Mode
