Gear Up: Out in the Cold

Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 03:08 AM ET

Verified

** Cold and broken down in New Hampshire, or
so I thought. A week later, we're good to go
for our flight back to Florida.**

Key Takeaways:

A pilot's aircraft Janitrol heater appeared to malfunction and emit smoke upon landing in sub-zero temperatures, rendering the plane unflyable under minimum equipment list (MEL) rules.
Extensive remote and on-site troubleshooting by several mechanics, including a Cheyenne expert, initially led to complex diagnostics of the heater's internal components.
The critical discovery was that the heater's fuel pump operation was dependent on the right boost pump, which had not been engaged during previous tests, meaning the heater was likely functional all along.
Once the correct procedures were followed and the right boost pump activated, the heater worked perfectly, enabling the pilot to complete a successful and warm flight home.

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It was cold at altitude: minus 39 degrees C. It was cold when we landed too: 9 degrees F. As I shut the Cheyenne down, I cautioned my wife, Cathy, to stay in the airplane until I could get the car and come get her and the dog, Corbett. She needed no persuading.

Just then a wisp of white smoke caught my peripheral vision. It seemed to come from the right side of the nose of the airplane. I got out, closing the airstair door behind me to keep whatever heat we had in the cabin. Sure enough, a small amount of white acrid-smelling smoke was coming out of what looked like a breather tube just forward of the heater exhaust. The heater exhaust is easy to spot on all Cheyennes because a trail of exhaust stains the fuselage behind it, in a pattern like the tail of a comet.