Primarily for general aviation discussion, but other aviation topics are also welcome.
#1677304
Nine doesn't sound that unreasonable - I don't fly the Robins myself, but the club here is putting 1500 odd hours a year into their fleet of four (hence an engine change with new accessories nearly every year as no extensions allowed), and the cold weather starting procedure here states 10 priming shots - that's been working for all of the fleet at least since 2012. (You might want a translation tool if your French is basic or less) Do remember that this is the procedure for brass monkey cold (say sub-zero temperatures) though, the "normal" cold start is 3 shots, so choose a number between that works for your aircraft and the temperature you're operating in
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By skydriller
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1677314
We have 2x DR400-140B w/160hp at our aeroclub.

Cold start from the hangar summer or winter - Fuel pump on, mags on both, 4x throttle pumps - starts first time.
Warm start - Fuel pump on, mags on both, 1x throttle pump - starts first time.

Have to say though, that we are in the south of France... and having left our DR400 outside for a few brass monkey nights while travelling east last week, then on first starting early in the morning she unusually spluttered a bit on cranking, so I pumped the throttle twice while cranking and she caught no worries to her normal purring self.

Regards, SD..
#1677319
Our club is supposed to get brand new DR401 by end of Match. Hopefully DR400 could then be looked at more in detail.
I was told that they have asked the mechanics and they didn't find anything so wrong. So, everyone has got used to following the practical procedures rather than what is in the POH.
#1677470
Dominie wrote:
statppl wrote:....everyone has got used to following the practical procedures rather than what is in the POH.

Isn't that how "accidents" happen? :shock:


I think people at my club are quite experienced and take safety of the aircraft and personnel seriously. They seem to be quite knowledgeable about the engines etc. Having operated the aircraft for years, they've discovered the practical things that are not according to POH.

Many here have mentioned different priming counts. Not sure if those are according to POH.
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By Flyin'Dutch'
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1677474
statppl wrote:
Dominie wrote:
statppl wrote:....everyone has got used to following the practical procedures rather than what is in the POH.

Isn't that how "accidents" happen? :shock:


I think people at my club are quite experienced and take safety of the aircraft and personnel seriously. They seem to be quite knowledgeable about the engines etc. Having operated the aircraft for years, they've discovered the practical things that are not according to POH.

Many here have mentioned different priming counts. Not sure if those are according to POH.


It will have started off with the thing being started by the POH.

Then it stopped working with that, and people found that giving it an extra squirt.

And then another.

Then it became so reluctant when it was 'cold' that the engine didn't want to start until it was pre-heated.

The next step will be that it won't start anymore at all - that would be great as the problem will then be sorted and the cause identified.

Alternatively the next step is a failure of whatever is causing the problem during flight and we'll read about it in an AAIB report.

Few people post on forums because the landing fee is 2 quid more, the CAA takes an extra day or an engine doesn't start on the first blade.

Equally you came on here because the thing was behaving in an exceptional way.

That engine is trying to tell you something. That no cause has been found yet doesn't mean there isn't one.
patowalker, T67M, Dominie and 5 others liked this
#1677766
I think there is a problem and people at the club do recognize it. How serious of a problem it is, that might be different for every club member. Those who regularly fly the aircraft would gripe about it, but my guess is that they wouldn't worry about it.
In any case, we expect the problem to be looked into once we have another aircraft for training.