Although it happened almost a year ago, the photos are just making the rounds of the Internet now and the lesson they carry are timeless. This almost-new Cessna 182 was destroyed last September at Munising, Mich., after gasoline in a line trimmer being carried on board ignited. According to the NTSB report the pilot put the weed whacker on the back seat for a short and uneventful flight but that all changed on arrival at Munising.
The pilot, who was alone in the aircraft, told investigators that after he landed he smelled a strong odor of gasoline. While he was taxiing, the engine end of the trimmer fell off the back seat and into the rear footwell–right where the pilot’s cellphone was charging. As the pilot wrestled the machine back onto the seat “something caused it to ignite,” he is quoted by the NTSB as saying. Probable cause of the destruction is listed as “inadequate preflight planning/preparation by the pilot to carry a hazardous material aboard an airplane that resulted in a fire during an after-landing taxi.”
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