Is This A Fairy Story

[radicalrabit]

I was once told by a linie that they couldnt get a Lightning from Binbrook running one cold and frosty morning and despite all attempts it refused to start. The line chiefy then rolled up a Daily Mirror lit it with his ronson and chucked it into the air intake and the beastie started....
Well could it have happened or is this just another fable?:confused:

[ZH875]

Groundcrew deliberately putting FOD in an intake := - definitely a fairy story.

Now maybe if it was a BEngO.........:O

[Gainesy]

Sounds more like a Sooty story...

[Dominoe]

Perhaps it was the Daily Mail - its usually full of inflamatory comments !

I`ve heard tales of throwing a bucket of water down the intake of a Wessex to start it.

[Kitbag]

...and spraying methylated spirits into Tornado APU intakes- lovely blue flame when they lit :eek:

[Jetex Jim]

I met a guy who had made a model gas turbine engine of about 25 lb thrust. When he demonstrated it to me he was still developing the fuel system, in order to run it he had rigged up a temporary propane system, and a leaf blower to get sufficient air through the intake to get everything turning.

The starting procedure was:
1) turn on leaf blower and point down intake
2) turn on propane tap
3) flick BIC lighter in the ensuing fuel-gas/air mixture from the exhaust.

When the BIC was flicked a great burst of flame shot out of the back of the engine, but it was burning inside as well because after a second or two he dispensed with the leaf blower and the motor was running on its own.

[Hueymeister]

Re. the wessex dit: We'd often throw a bucket of water down the exaust to clean the igniter plugs when the 'Gnome' refused to light. Couldn't/shouldn't do it to a warm engine...thermal shock etc. Really confused the Pongoes at G100/Y453/R850 etc.....

[HallamPilot]

I know you can start a Tornado APU with a U/S ignitor using white spirit and burning Kimwipe!

(I was once Olaf's Padawan!)

[MostlyHarmless]

I know for a fact you can cold start an Adour with a stick of celery and a Doberman.

[forget]

My Mk II Ford Zodiac, Cottesmore Vulcan days, had ‘something’ rolling around the fuel tank and removing it wasn’t an option. Every fifty miles or so the car would quit from fuel starvation but I’d developed a quick fix. In the glove box I kept half a dozen plastic syringes, full of petrol. Engine quits – roll to a stop – grab syringe and squirt neat fuel into the carb. Jump and back in and first crank worked every time. Picking up hitch hikers was normal then – and explaining the syringes became too much of a problem. ‘Secret fuel' on trial became the answer – “Does about 50 miles on one syringe full”. Seemed to work OK with the odd pongo.:bored:

[chcoffshore]

Re. the wessex dit: We'd often throw a bucket of water down the exaust to clean the igniter plugs when the 'Gnome' refused to light. Couldn't/shouldn't do it to a warm engine...thermal shock etc. Really confused the Pongoes at G100/Y453/R850 etc.....


Huey they were ducking for cover because they thought the door slider was letting off a few rounds at them..........Again!:E

"R850" up your tube!

[TwoDeadDogs]

Hi there
I guess the same went on with Mig19s as I have read where Russian/E.European mechs would be unable to start an engine on the -19(especially if it was not exactly into wind) and would throw a burning rag into the exhaust.Someone would crank the relevant engine, pump in some fuel with the igniter CBs pulled, then reset them and go for a normal start.The fuel would ignite and the resultant "start" would blow the rag out of the tailpipe.It could be a spoof but it's not beyond the bounds of possibilities either.
regards
GttC

[F34NZ]

Mostlyharmless, I speak for almost no one when I say that I'd really, really like to see the video for that one.

[TOPBUNKER]

Anyone remember landrovers and coiled rope ?

[Solid Rust Twotter]

DC-3 used a length of strop around the hub to turn the engine, the other end attached to the back of a pickup truck.

[brakedwell]

Twin Pioneer - A length of rope tied to a folded hessian sack triangle, a Colonel and two Majors did the trick for me!

[TwoDeadDogs]

Hi there
I checked with an ex-aviation/ex-industrial turbine colleague and he told me of at least two different types of aero-derivative industrial turbines which have ports in their casings for the use of a lighted taper to "enhance" the start-up if the engine is refusing to play.
regards
TDD

[sled dog]

How could a burning Daily Mirror rotate an Avon ? Bull***t :confused: However, a hairy Engine Chiefy once told me that a burning lump of rag thrown into the intake of a Typhoon ( Hawker, a proper one....) in France in 1944 would assist engine starting on cold mornings. :) :ok:

[Trojan1981]

There was a certain senior member of HS817 Sqn Maintenance crew at NAS Nowra who infamously poured a bucket of water down the intake of a SK engine that refused to shut down:eek:! The hot end was stuffed of course.
One of the civilian NAPO engineers told me the story, the eng couldn't understand why he did this when shuting it down manually is a pretty simple proceedure:ugh:.
I believe more recent events may have lead to this person being removed from the Sqn.

[mr fish]

my wife can be lit by passing a nice comment about her sister!!!

[S'land]

I don't know about aero engines, but back in the dark ages when I was at college, I had a winter job on a building site. On most mornings the dumper trucks, JCB's, lorries etc. had problems starting due to cold weather. The recognised way to start the diesel engines was to burn newspapers (proably the Daily Sketch in those days) under the engines to warm them up.

[Tim McLelland]

Amusing anecdotes aside, the simple answer to the original question is that the story is patently nonsense, as anyone with an elementary grasp of jet engine design would know.

If a burning rag was thrown into a Lightning intake (assuming it didn't get deflected in the gap around the intake cone and cockpit ducting, which it would, of course!), it would simply languish in the bottom of the ducting until it stopped burning. You'd need a very good throw to even reach the first compressor blades, and as the engine was unstarted, I'm afraid throwing a burning rag at an inactive turbine disk isn't going to achieve much! Even if the blades were turning (in which case the engine wouldn't need starting!), the poor rag would simply get chewed to shreds.
Definitely one for the Urban Myths catalogue:)

[Romeo Oscar Golf]

Bloody hell, Tim, what sort of party pooper are you? You'll be telling us next, and prooving it, that a Pongo Major and his 2nd Lt could not fly a Hastings across Borneo, from the back of the aircraft using only long pieces of string attached to the primary flying controls.:hmm:

[brakedwell]

You need a sergeant to tell them which is left and right!