CEN18LA272

After landing at the destination airport, the pilot smelled smoke, so he shut down the airplane, exited, and saw a fire in the vicinity of the baggage compartment. The fire consumed most of the fuselage and the inboard portion of both wings. The pilot recently had a lithium-ion battery installed in the emergency locator transmitter (ELT). However, the ELT and battery were examined and determined not to be the source of the fire. Investigators were not able to determine the origin of the fire due to the extent of fire damage.

On July 16, 2018, about 1430 central daylight time, a Cessna 182 airplane, N182GQ, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident at Odessa-Schlemeyer Field (ODO), Odessa, Texas. The pilot was not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. When the pilot landed at ODO, the pilot smelled smoke, so he shut down and exited the airplane. He saw fire in the vicinity of the baggage compartment. The fire consumed a majority of the fuselage and the inboard portion of both wings. The wreckage was examined by a responding Federal Aviation Administration inspector. He could not determine a source of ignition and provided photos for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Materials Laboratory Fire & Explosion Specialist. After reviewing the photos, she assessed that the level of fire damage was so great that determining a point of origin would be both difficult and unreliable. The pilot stated that he had recently installed a lithium-ion battery in the emergency locator transmitter (ELT). Since the ELT lithium-ion battery was suspected to be a possible source, the ELT was removed and sent to the NTSB Materials Laboratory for examination. The examination of the batteries did not reveal any signatures of failure that would have been the fire's point of origin. Investigators were not able to determine the source of the fire.