How to put out cabin fires

On a very serious note, Aviation Mentor has posted a detailed and excellent entry about fighting a pilot’s worst nightmare – an in-flight cabin fire. The key point: if you own an aircraft or (especially) if you are renting an unfamiliar aircraft, take the time to determine if there is a fire extinguisher on board, what kind of extinguisher it is, that it works, and that you know how to use it. Furthermore, the writer points out that:

I’ve seen extinguishers mounted underneath the pilot’s seat and in locations that are not only inconvenient, they could be downright dangerous in an emergency when every second counts. And if you aren’t following a preflight checklist that includes the fire extinguisher and you can’t actually see the fire extinguisher, you’re likely to forget about it. Out of sight, out of mind.

This is especially true in older Cirruses, like the ones I fly, where the fire extinguisher is mounted below the pilot’s knees. If you’re short like me, you’ll fly with the seat ratcheted forward. This makes getting to the fire extinguisher a real challenge because you have to move the seat back first.