fire on board

[ghostflyer]

2 hours ago I was lineing up on runway 025 for a beautiful cloudless afternoon of flying. I had just fitted a new battery and completed all checks and all was great . my wife was beside me chirpping away . Power on and we were accelerating down the runway , 65 kts came up and rotate. I notice something white flash just below the forward part of the cowl and then a slight vibration and then every went smooth again. It seemed I had hit a small white bird on takeoff. I did a quick scan of instruments every thing was good. Then the cabin started to fill with smoke and I could see smoke exiting from the l/h side of the cowl. At this point of time I was over the ocean and we were heading away from the runway and at 1500ft . The smell wasnt kentucky Fried chicken , [bird] it wasnt electrical either but plenty of smoke[white].
Windows open ,electrics off and flicked it over on to its wing tip and headed back towards the runway . Very little traffic and no radios. No mayday . I was at idle for the whole descent . Gave my wife a quick brief of what to do on landing. If I saw flames it was into the ocean but the runway wasnt far away so lets head for that. Engine was running smoothly . R/h base [sort of] at -100ft above the water and then lined her up . Power off ,believe it or not but a text book wheelie landing,
I stopped the aircraft ready for a quick exit and no more smoke ,so back to the hangar. L/h cowl open and smoke was pooring out of the intake of the heater. Furthur investigation showed a white rag inside the muffler. [very burnt] . That white flash was a rag on the runway and as I rotated the prop picked it up and it went down the l/h side of the air intake and down the heater intake.
Well I am sitting at home having a cup of tea and now its time to panic. Total time of flight 12 mins.

[edbooth]

You wouldn't have that occur again in a million years !.......Just when you thought you heard everything......

Ed Booth, Trenton, SC

[170C]

Short of a mid air, fire is the most feared thing in an airplane (for me). Glad you were prepared and handled this emergency as you did and no one was injured. This helps all of us to remember to be prepared each time we go fly.

[DaveF]

Well done keeping your wits about you!

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

Aviate, navigate and communicate in that order as necessary. Good job aviating and not turning this event into more than it was or needed to be.

[ghostflyer]

Started work on the aircraft at 7.00am this morning. Bottom cowl off and removed the outer shell of the muffler . Inside was the remains of a length of "Chux" a type of paper towel . It had been soaked in white paint and thinners. I walked out to the end of the runway and found another 3 lots of it each about 2 ft long. Its about time the city cleaned its act up and looked after the airport better. I scrubbed the blacken mess off the inside of the muffler and put it all back together and went and did 1 hr of flying [had to get back on the horse] . The smell is still there but hopefully will go. PS. The wife did not come with me this morning.