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Date: Sun, 8 Jan 2006 13:53:22 -0700
From: Bob White <rlwhite@comcast.net>
To: "Rotary motors in aircraft" <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
Subject: Re: First Engine Start
Message-Id: <20060108135322.cc29ae8f.rlwhite@comcast.net>
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On Sun, 8 Jan 2006 14:04:32 EST
Lehanover@aol.com wrote:

>  
> In a message dated 1/8/2006 12:03:03 PM Eastern Standard Time,  
> rlwhite@comcast.net writes:
> 
> Thanks  Bill,
> 
> After reading the horror stories of engine starts without a load,  I had
> vowed to not even try.  For once I made the right choice.   Maybe Tracy
> needs to add a rev limiter feature so that the engine won't run  over
> 9000 rpm for those others that insist on doing it.  Sounds like  an easy
> software change to me. :)  Anybody want to go over 9K?   (Except Lynn)
> 
> Bob W.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Once years ago, a young fellow asked me to help him tune up his rotary at  
> the track. I walked over and he fired up and revved his engine to a scream and  
> it 4 cycled solid for a second. I backed away from the flywheel scatter zone,  
> giving him the cut sign. 
>  
> The engine returned to idle, and ran normally, (for a Bridgeport) at 2,000  
> RPM).
>  
> He thought the awful sound (of the rev limiter) was a tuning problem.
> With no load, from zero to the Moon is 1/4 second. The Moon is 59,000  miles 
> past ruined engine.
>  
> A rev limiter on both leading and trailing is required since either will  
> take it past the other rev limiter with no load. I run two MSDs with 9,600 RPM  
> chips. I like to hear it hit the limiters once in a while just to be sure the  
> driver is trying real hard.
>  
> With a prop mounted, damage is unlikely. 
>  
> A first start check list should confirm wheels chocked. Plane tied to  
> immovable object. Throttle closed. Experienced pilot at the controls. Full up  
> elevator. Toe brakes on. A positive method for shutting off ignition energy,  with 
> switch or breaker exposed and with a finger on that switch, or breaker. An  
> adult standing by with a Co2 fire bottle with the pin pulled.
> Assume that the fuel system will leak and cause a fire. It will. Maybe not  
> this time, but it will.
>  
> Assume that oil pressure will drop to zero right after you look at it the  
> first time. Maybe not this time, but it will. Lost prime, oil lines not filled,  
> coolers not filled, sump not full, plastic pressure gage line melted in two,  
> Fram car filter can split open, oil line not tightened fully.
>  
> Assume that all of your help are blithering idiots. Including that imbecile  
> you put in the cockpit. Explain at length that anyone seeing anything they 
> even  suspect as abnormal, should wave an arm overhead so as to alert the cockpit 
> guy  to shut it off. No other thoughts are to be transmitted in this fashion. 
> Just  shut it off. If somebody points at anything having forgotten the wave 
> rule, shut  it off. If somebody runs away, shut it off. If somebody puts both 
> hands over  their mouth and backs away slowly, shut it off
>  
> To the pilot weight equivalent in the cockpit, anybody waves an arm, or you  
> think you saw anything that may have looked even remotely like an arm waving,  
> you shut it off. Shut it off after one minute no matter what. To check the 
> water  and to see if the shut it off scheme really works.
>  
>  
>  
> And the number one killer of rotaries............................No water  
> flow on start up. 
>  
> The pump is mounted high on the block. The air in the block takes several  
> heat cycles to remove. A dose of air in the pump, stops flow cold. I hold one  
> hand on the water pump outlet, and wait for one minute for heat at the outlet.  
> No heat? shut it off and get the air out of the pump. Once heat starts to 
> build,  I take the cap off of the swirl pot and watch water enter the pot. The 
> pump will  stop no matter what the water temperature. So just because it gets 
> hot means  nothing. Let it run for one minute, and shut it down to check that 
> water level  at the top of the pump. It takes me three heat cycles to get all of 
> the air out.  And my system works great. 
>  
> Do all of this outside the hanger. That way all of the planes in the hanger  
> will not be lost when the hanger goes up in flames.  
>  
> If you are alone, Don't even try it. 
>  
> Lynn E. Hanover
> 

Hi Lynn,

Sound like great rules to follow.  I have at least one advantage.  My
water pump is at the lowest point in the system, and I ran it for at
least an hour before starting the engine.  (Of course EWP's don't work,
but I'll find that out later.)  :)

I did have a couple of people standing around with fire extinguishers,
but it would have been good to put a bit more of a plan in place.  

I was pleasantly surprised that my leaks were minimal.  There is one
very small drip and it may be coming from the oil vent tube.  I never
got around to running it anywhere.  The caution about lines not being
properly tightened also applies to the gas lines.  I tested the fuel
system before trying to start the engine.  I found one fitting weeping
slightly.  The fitting was only finger tight.  I checked the others and
found two more that weren't tight but were, at least temporarily, not
leaking a drop. 

Bob W. 

-- 
http://www.bob-white.com
N93BD - Rotary Powered BD-4 (first engine start 1/7/06)
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