Interesting, although I fail to see the FAA reason for the fire…..?
Although twenty minutes in length, I thought this was worth passing along to my colleagues.
A couple of things about this incident caught my attention.
There was no fire extinguisher on the aircraft. The instructor seemed to gloss over this point very quickly yet I suspect it could have caused a much-better outcome had it been there, reachable, usable and of sufficient capacity to knock the fire down.
The instructor's shoe melted in the flames and he makes reference to "plastic' a couple of times, yet he was able to put his cotton-sock-covered foot back into the flames onto the rudder pedal to maintain the steep slip, after his student was able to pull the melting shoe off his foot. Most flying instructors wear some form of a running shoe, even the CFI's that I have met.Many, if not most, pilots that I know wear synthetic-material shoes when they are flying, for understandable reasons of comfort and flexibility. That doesn't mean that wearing something that is either flammable or will melt to your foot is necessarily a good thing. The fact that a thin, cotton sock afforded him more fire protection than his entire shoe should be telling.
At Skyquest, for some reason, half the instructors wear leather shoes, completely at odds with other schools.
I am guilty, however, of polishing my flying shoes.
when I pointed out the style of dress evident in the T-28 formation training video- wearing Nomex flying suits and gloves but with the sleeves rolled up to the elbow- my instructor wryly observed to only leave exposed what parts of you that you want barbequed...