Today at the fbo, a Mooney pilot had his a/c pulled out to the ramp.
Did the requisite checks, got in and started it up. It ran fine, he held this thing at high idle for about 4-5 minutes. Not unusual.
Then he shut the engine off. I'm like what??
Most pilots do this routine, get the engine back to idle then contact the tower to taxi to runway 25/07. They don't shut it down.
About 3 minutes later, (and today was hot as hell too!), he attempted a restart.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 times.
It would not catch. The engine would attempt to catch after the starter was running for about 30 seconds (each time) and the engine would go 'poof'... blah blah blah, some black smoke exited the exhaust each time. I feel like I was just as frustrated as the pilot watching this ordeal.
He finally got out of the plane, was on his cell, and obviously decided that today was not a good day to fly. FBO ppl towed it back to the hangar.
From an outsider's perspective, I'm guessing a vapor lock. This is the first time I've ever seen this first hand, but this year we have seen a couple of planes at the flight school have similar problems due to the heat with hot starts.
Did the requisite checks, got in and started it up. It ran fine, he held this thing at high idle for about 4-5 minutes. Not unusual.
Then he shut the engine off. I'm like what??
Most pilots do this routine, get the engine back to idle then contact the tower to taxi to runway 25/07. They don't shut it down.
About 3 minutes later, (and today was hot as hell too!), he attempted a restart.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 times.
It would not catch. The engine would attempt to catch after the starter was running for about 30 seconds (each time) and the engine would go 'poof'... blah blah blah, some black smoke exited the exhaust each time. I feel like I was just as frustrated as the pilot watching this ordeal.
He finally got out of the plane, was on his cell, and obviously decided that today was not a good day to fly. FBO ppl towed it back to the hangar.
From an outsider's perspective, I'm guessing a vapor lock. This is the first time I've ever seen this first hand, but this year we have seen a couple of planes at the flight school have similar problems due to the heat with hot starts.
