A Citation Captain failed to insure the pitot heat had been turned off after parking. When he put the pitot covers in place they melted; requiring maintenance attention to inspect for contamination.

Date: 2012-01 · Aircraft: Cessna Citation Undifferentiated or Other Model · Phase: ground

Anomalies: aircraft-equipment-problem-less-severe|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy

Synopsis

A Citation Captain failed to insure the pitot heat had been turned off after parking. When he put the pitot covers in place they melted; requiring maintenance attention to inspect for contamination.

Narrative

After deplaning passengers I proceeded to finish my post flight responsibilities. It was night time and raining moderately. I grabbed the pitot tube covers; proceeded out the aircraft and drained the nose wheel steering accumulator. I then placed the pilot's and co-pilot's pitot tube covers on and moved to the standby pitot cover to place the cover on. In doing so I burned my hand and realized the pitot tubes were hot.I immediately pulled the covers off the pilot and co-pilot's pitot tubes and proceeded back to the cockpit. In the cockpit I discovered the pitot tube heat switches had been left in the ON position after landing. I turned the switches OFF and went back to the pitot tubes to examine them. Both pitot tubes were covered in a glue like resin. I immediately called Maintenance Control and they advised me to write it up.In the future I will check the pitot heat switches are in the OFF position before placing the pitot covers on. I will also monitor the pilot not flying more closely and ensure he/she follows the checklist as appropriate.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.