Engine starting techniques
Recently had an interesting experience when going flying with a friend. One of the C172's we have down at the club is particularly hard to start. This time we struggled for several minutes before enlisting the help of a nearby mechanic. He explained that the primer only works on one cylinder and this leads to the starting problems. He recommended rapidly pumping the throttle while cranking the engine.
Said technique worked better though the engine was still reluctant to start and while fiddling around with the throttle and mixture lever I realised how little I know about starting engines. Was never taught anything else than two strikes with the primer and the school's planes always started on the first attempt.
Anyway even though it worked out in the end, this whole thing got me a bit concerned, primarily with regards to the risk of fire, as I didn't really know what I was doing when I tried to start the engine. Could anyone enlighten me about the best techniques when the engine doesn't want to cooperate, and also what I absolutely shouldn't do to get it running?
Thanks a lot,
ModeA