Looking4Lower
New Member
I've been extremely busy lately but I thought I'd post this. We were headed back to home base a couple days ago in the old turbo 206 after a 6-hour flying day. I was about 15 minutes out when I noticed that the little CO detector on the panel had turned "caution" green. I had replaced the CO detectors in all our planes a couple months ago, so this one was relatively fresh. I hadn't noticed the color change until that point in time (I try to keep an eye on it during flight).
Neither one of us felt out-of-the-ordinary, but I shut off the heat, opened the fresh air vents and we continued to an uneventful landing. We were scheduled to fly the next morning, but the boss had our mechanic come out extra early in the morning to inspect the exhaust system to see if there was an actual problem vs. a faulty detector.
Sure enough, he found an exhaust leak! The exhaust system is being replaced. I feel somewhat lucky that the problem happened when it did; I had been taking that plane into IFR and night conditions lately.
I suggest: 1) check that your CO detectors aren't expired - some of them DO have expiration dates, 2) Keep the CO detector in a place on the panel where it is EASY to see during normal flight operations, and 3) if you fly planes that don't have CO detectors in them (i.e. some rental fleets), I might suggest buying one for yourself and clipping it to your flightbag, kneeboard, or something like that. I'm keeping a personal one with my flight gear from now on.
Fly safe!
Neither one of us felt out-of-the-ordinary, but I shut off the heat, opened the fresh air vents and we continued to an uneventful landing. We were scheduled to fly the next morning, but the boss had our mechanic come out extra early in the morning to inspect the exhaust system to see if there was an actual problem vs. a faulty detector.
Sure enough, he found an exhaust leak! The exhaust system is being replaced. I feel somewhat lucky that the problem happened when it did; I had been taking that plane into IFR and night conditions lately.
I suggest: 1) check that your CO detectors aren't expired - some of them DO have expiration dates, 2) Keep the CO detector in a place on the panel where it is EASY to see during normal flight operations, and 3) if you fly planes that don't have CO detectors in them (i.e. some rental fleets), I might suggest buying one for yourself and clipping it to your flightbag, kneeboard, or something like that. I'm keeping a personal one with my flight gear from now on.
Fly safe!
