M-20 J (201) / Allegro
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 50; Flight Crew Total 10000; Flight Crew Type 300
Workload; Situational Awareness; Training / Qualification; Troubleshooting; Communication Breakdown; Distraction
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor; Inflight Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Environment - Non Weather Related; Aircraft
After dropping my son off; within 5 minutes after takeoff; and climbing through about 2;500 FT and a heading of about 280 degrees; I smelled smoke in the cockpit. I immediately started a left turn back and turned off my Avionics master and Master switch. I knew there was traffic to my left so I stopped the turn until I acquired the slower traffic. During that time the smoke and smell left the cockpit. At that time I had a decision to make; it's a clear day and the aircraft is running and flying fine; should I continue to head away from a busy airspace to my home airport; or should I possibly make a no radio landing at a busy towered airport. I decided to continue my flight. I then used my compass to head generally west toward my destination. I thought I should let the Tower know what was going on since my transponder was off below the Class B Airspace; and I had started the turn to the south somewhat abruptly. I turned electrical components on one at a time to isolate the problem and report to the Tower why I turned and the transponder went off but within 5 minutes I smelled something again so I shut all electrical off. By this time I was outside of the Mode C veil and headed back generally west and had more time to navigate back using my iPad and GPS. About this time I noticed several parachutes at about my altitude and about one half mile north of my position and abeam or slightly behind me. I continued the rest of the flight without avionics uneventfully. Did I make the right decision? I'm not sure; the smoke did very much get my attention but that was solved quickly. What bothered me more was that I inadvertently flew into an area where there was parachute activity while trying to solve the electrical problems and did so because of lack of communications.
A M20 developed smoke and fumes after takeoff so the pilot secured all Master Electrical Switches and continued flying spending a short while under Class B Airspace with the transponder OFF.