What happens if an airplane flies through fire?

Question

I was playing an airplane game, and I had just shot down an enemy airplane. Because I was flying so fast I flew right through the destroyed scraps of the enemy aircraft. It was still on fire. Now, I understand it's a game, so my plane can fly through fire.


But what about in real life? If an airplane flies through fire, what happens? Does it get burned? I tried thinking up some stuff, like it exploding, but I couldn't get a cause for that.

Please tell me what happens?!?!

Thanks!

Jerry C.

Answer 1

As long as the exposure to flames is very brief, there should be no harm to the airplane. Flying for extended periods through flames and heavy smoke (as when fighting a forest fire) is riskier and has to be avoided. Heat and flames can damage the aircraft outside of brief exposures, heavy smoke doesn't help the engines (although usually they do okay), and the lower oxygen content in the smoke of a fire can affect engine performance. There's also a risk from smoke inhalation and potentially from hypoxia for the crew. But there aren't too many situations in which aircraft fly for long periods through flames. The closest to that would be firefighting aircraft.

Answer 2

The fire is unlikely to hurt the plane because the relative speeds are so high. As soon as the other plane explodes or catches on fire, it will begin to decelerate rapidly.



However, the high relative speed that makes the fire harmless makes any bits of debris extremely harmful. It's hard to imagine you could pass through the fiery debris without striking something. Even a tiny scrap of metal can kill your engine or rip off a large piece of a control surface.

Answer 3

Would seem to me that just flying through a little fire or flame would be near harmless to a plane, but in the presence of real BIG fire like low over a big forest fire (and I mean real low, like treetop level in the flames) a possible lack of oxygen could cause the engine(s) to go over-rich and stall; possibly dropping you in the fire. Bad deal. Avoid.

Answer 4

Well it all depends on how much debris is in the flames. If we are talking about just fire, yes flying through it is perfectly logical.

Answer 5

Fire is not the problem it is the junk in the fireball rivet going down a gas turbine can disable it.