Starting
July 19th, 2005There are two points in a flight when people outside the plane tend to watch and critique you: when you start the engine, and when you land.
Granted, unless you’re hand-propping, a starting error is much less dangerous than a landing error; however, failed starts happen far more often, and there’s nothing like the grating “chuff-chuff-chuff-chuff” of a failed start to make all the airport old guys look over and shak their heads in dismay.
Aviatrix has just posted two articles on starting carbureted piston engines, here and here, and they’ve generated a good number of interesting comments. Read them, if you haven’t done so already.
July 19th, 2005 at 13:58:10-0400
How true! Of course the first time I had a terrible flooded engine problem on a hot day was with my father sitting there in the C-172N I was flying at the time. I think the expression he had could best be described as “baleful”. I managed to get it started on the third go, but that was the longest moment of the entire flight.
July 19th, 2005 at 15:49:12-0400
My first flooded engine came on my long solo cross country as a student. I was in an unfamiliar airport, and all alone. I got out of the plane and there was fuel dripping out of the bottom of the cowling. I went inside, did a few maneuvers on the food simulators, and came out and tried starting without prime and with the mixture off, and it worked. I was amazed. The POH was actually right about something.
Now I fly a fuel injected Piper Lance, and starting it is a bit of a black art, but those of us initiated into the fraternity have very little trouble, even when it’s hot. The secret is not to touch the throttle, prop or mixture controls (leave them right where they were when it was shut down) until the engine catches, and then quickly move the mixture knob from idle-cut-off to full on. The engine just idles at a nice steady 1000 RPM without the initial roar that you get with normally aspirated engines when you start them at full throttle.
March 7th, 2006 at 09:31:50-0500
[...] There are a few times when pilots become especially self-conscious about being observed by others: when talking on the radio, when landing, and when starting the engine. Of the three, as I’ve written before, starting a piston engine is by far the worst — you shout “CLEAR!” to make sure everyone on the crowded apron is watching, then deliver a loud commentary on your progress (or lack thereof) with a loud CHUFF-CHUFF-CHUFF-CHUFF. If it goes on too long, people start either to stare at you, or even worse, to look away in embarassment. Eventually, if the engine doesn’t fire, you stop for a while to let things cool down, then repeat the whole humiliating process. At this point, a well-meaning instructor or mechanic might take pity on you and walk over to give you a hand, before both your battery and your ego run completely flat. [...]