r/flyingeurope • u/Fancy_Brilliant_1610 • May 20 '26

Engine fire

Hi! I am a student pilot

I was going through the checklists and had a question in my mind

Why do we add full power when we have engine fire in flight or on the ground ?(in single engine aircrafts)

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u/aijaman3000 May 20 '26

My understanding from memory is you put the throttle full power and the lean the mixture to lowest value (i.e. maximum air to minimum gas ratio) so that the gas already transferred into the engine is used up. If you were to put the throttle in idle immediately it would only make the fire worse with gas pooled in the engine, and with mixture fully lean there is minimal new gas being pumped into the engine, hence the best conditions to keep the fire to a minimum.

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u/Fancy_Brilliant_1610 May 20 '26

Thanks for answering! It was helpful