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Posted By:
Hal Brown
Date Posted:
Aug 19, 2008
Description:
An early start was my plan as I walked the short distance to the Racine Airport. The weather was beautiful and I contemplated using my early departure to fly west a bit to the Mississippi River before going south.
Some plans are nothing more than wishful thinking. The SeaRey absolutely, positively refused to start. From the way the engine was kicking back, it was pretty clear the starter sprag had finally died. I tried every trick I knew of, including jump starts, plug changes and even hand-propping, to no avail.
I finally gave up and called Kerry. “I don’t think the airplane is going anywhere,” I glumly pronounced.
“Eric Tucker from Rotax was just here at the booth,” Kerry told me. “I have some ideas I’d like to talk to him about starting the airplane. I’ll call you back.”
He did. “Okay, I think the engine will start if you take the prop off.”
“Huh? It’s going to be a real trick to put it back on if the engine does start!”
“If you start the engine without the prop and warm it up, it may start when you put the prop back on. If not, you can try taking one of the three blades off the prop. You’ll have to re-pitch it and climb-out will be reduced, but it should fly okay with just two blades.”
I had a choice of sitting in Racine for the next several days or trying Kerry’s trick. The engine started easily without the prop. When the prop was put back on, it wouldn’t start. I had to take a blade off to get it going.
It was mid-day when the prop-diminished SeaRey finally struggled into the air. Even though the engine ran fine, I was relieved to be over the water of Lake Michigan and the corn fields of Indiana.
Down in the cornfields work was underway on wind generators. Do they know they could get them spinning easier without the prop? Maybe not.
Date Taken:
Aug 19, 2008
Place Taken:
Fowler, IN
Owner:
Dan Nickens
File Name:
Bring_on_the_Wind.jpg - Photo HTML
Full size - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZTGG0000h">
Medium - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZTGG0000m">
Thumbnail - <img src="/show.php?splash=SZTGG0000s">
Category:
325, Demonstrative Flying
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Click on photo to view the original size. |
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Read what others had to say:
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Bruno Grondin - Aug 20,2008
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Hein...!!!!<br />Last year I want to run my engine before installing my prop and everybody told me...BRUNO ARE YOU SHURE OR CRAZY...DONT DO THIS... I was told that the prop is acting like a flyweel damper and if I'll start it without the prop I'll damage the crank..... and now you add up by removing one blade out of tree....wow....<br />Its good to know... but tell me Dan what was the problem at last....Your starter was capout and not strong enough to crank ? And by removing one prop it reduce the inercial force enough to make it easyer to crank...?
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Dan Nickens - Aug 20,2008
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Yep, Bruno. The starter did capout...at this stage, and by the next day it was totally crapped out! Well, actually, the starter was still strong but the sprag wouldn't let it spin the engine. For more gory technical details, see the technical site. (And, yes, I too was told for many years 'Never start the engine without a prop!' but in this case I got special dispensation from the Pope of SeaReys, Eric Tucker. If you ever need to do this, Bruno, just let me know and I'll share Eric's awesome emergency dispensation.)
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Kenneth Leonard - Aug 20,2008
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Too tech for this site, but since we've said you can do it, make sure it's idle only!
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Bruno Grondin - Aug 20,2008
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Too teck...hehehe.... no really not Ken, read the other Dan's pic and you'll feel like I did......hehehe
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Don Maxwell - Aug 20,2008
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Make sure the throttle cables and return springs are set up in the PA way, not the standard Rotax way.
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Dave Edward - Aug 21,2008
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Dan &/or Don....how bout posting the full procedure in the TIPS FILES on the Tech site. It just might save some of us a lengthy delay or grounding one of these days.
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Dan Nickens - Aug 21,2008
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Okay, Dave, but like Bret said, to use this procedure you have to be a red-neck shade tree mechanic with no common sense. Besides, there is no chance your engine would do this!
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Ben Bienvenu - Aug 23,2008
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How many batteries do those windmills take and can you flip start them? As an old natural gas driller, that thing takes up way more space than my simple little locations - and same right of way for the power line as for our little reclaimable flowlines and in 10 yrs, you'd never know we were there instead of defacing the 2D terrain w/all these things. Yep, I like the naturall concentrated, sun kissed 'organic' stuff conveniently packaged in 3D volume below us instead of littering the terrain w/bird whacking screachers that run part time. And it is renewable since the sun grew the organic matter in the first place plus the liquids make great Jet A and unleaded for Seareys -neat pic, though.
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