Page 16 - August18T

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billow of smoke similar to what Kraemer experienced in ight.
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14 • TWIN & TURBINE August 2018
I put “Mr. Customer” in the captain’s chair and he did a nice job of flying, only requiring some finger pointing to switches and knobs. After departure, we climbed to FL290 on a west- bound round robin IFR flight plan. Everything was SOP until our return to the airport. During our descent out of FL210, ATC changed the gate and unknowingly put us on a vector to hell. We soon saw in our path what appeared to be a developing lonely cumulus cloud but nothing showed on the radar. Cleared to FL170, we rammed the cloud at our assigned speed of 200 knots IAS. Then came the rodeo.
It was not a cloud, but the top of one of the forest fires that had re-ignited and was rapidly growing as it ravaged the forest below. The sudden turbulence made us tighten our belts and slow to maneuvering speed. This is where it gets weird. The aircraft felt as if we were balancing on the tip of a needle oscil- lating on the aircraft’s center of gravity. Meanwhile, a heavy smell of smoke filled the cabin and we noticed that the outside air temperature (OAT) had instantaneously increased from -15 degrees Celsius to +40 degrees Celsius. We quickly made the call to ATC to request an immediate left or right vector out of the smoke cloud as well as reported the forest fire’s position.
Fortunately, Denver Center handled the request expertly. The vector was granted and everyone following our path was turned as well. Less than a minute later, we were back in smooth, clear air with the only evidence of the mishap being white ash on our de-ice boots. With no apparent damage or engine disruption, we landed back at APA without incident. Once on the ground, we took a long look at the airplane and engines and still only saw white ash residue on the leading edge flight surfaces. So, once the customer and I finished our discussion, I prepared for the next leg of my day: the mission to home base.
First, I called our maintenance gurus with concern regard- ing the ingestion of the smoke, soot and ash in the engine. They then called Pratt & Whitney. No serious concern was expressed other than recommending an optional compressor wash to clean the aircraft when I got back to Wichita. (Note: A volcano plume would have been a whole different story due to the corrosive pumas in the ash that will certainly damage engine parts and ground the aircraft).
By this point, I was running late and stretching duty time. And heightening the urgency was the fact that the aircraft needed to return to Wichita for maintenance and then be dis- patched on another mission later that day. So, I skipped lunch, quickly put on a bag of gas (i.e. jet fuel), filed and launched back to Wichita. A routine run-up, departure and climb to FL290 were executed with no issues. Once at cruise and out of DIA airspace, I engaged the autopilot on the Proline 21 avi- onics. Enjoying a 75-knot tailwind, I was cooking at 380 kts
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