Flight Training - May 2015 - 24

FLYING CARPET

By Greg Brown

HITCHING A RIDE DOWN the ILS to
Prescott, Arizona, with instrument student
Patrick Shiels and flight instructor Fred Gibbs.

BAD START

BEACH VACATION NEARLY ON THE ROCKS

E

ach spring Jean and I look forward to flying to our annual
beach retreat with friends in Southern California. That
was still a few weeks away when I arrived at the airport
one chilly morning for a local flight. Having preheated the
engine overnight, I primed it as usual and turned the key.
The Flying Carpet, an older Cessna 182,
has always been a terrific starter, rarely
requiring more than half a turn to awaken
the engine. But this morning the engine
barely cranked-it just groaned to first
compression, and stopped. I wasn't particularly alarmed as today's mission was
minor, and starting problems are usually
easily resolved. I first suspected a weak
battery. However, the voltmeter showed
the battery fully charged to 24 volts, indicating outstanding health and plenty of
power to start the engine.
This airplane's battery is located back
behind the baggage compartment. Thinking there might be a faulty connection
or ground between it and the starter, I
requested a ground power unit start from
Flagstaff's Wiseman Aviation. However,
their battery cart fared no better. That the
engine turned at all absolved the ignition
switch and starter solenoid. "Obviously,"
the problem must be the starter itself.

24 /

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Mechanics Rory Goforth and Mike
Clever towed the airplane to Wiseman
Aviation, checked connections, and
installed a new starter. But to everyone's
surprise, the engine still wouldn't crank
adequately to start.
Rory explained that the only possible
remaining culprit in this simple system
was the starter adapter. This clutch-like
device mechanically connects the starter
to turn the engine, and then disconnects it
when the engine starts. I'd heard of starter
adapters occasionally failing to disengage
so the engine drags and burns out the
starter, but never one that wouldn't start
the engine. Mine was apparently slipping
internally so the spinning starter wouldn't
fully engage the engine.

The cost of a factory remanufactured
starter adapter proved astounding, but
as often happens with aircraft parts, if
you look hard enough there are affordable alternatives. Field overhauls were far
more manageable. The real eye-opener
came when discussing turnaround time.
Rory explained that the starter adapter
mounts to the back of the Continental
engine, where there's inadequate room to
service it without unbolting and shifting
the engine. Clearly this would be costly
and time-consuming. What's more, Rory
and Mike were booked for weeks before
they could even start my major project.
Horrified, I began mentally ticking off
trips that might never happen-in particular, our long-planned beach vacation. I
phoned Prescott's Arizona Air-Craftsman
seeking alternatives.
"If you can get the airplane to Prescott
we'll address it in the next week or two,
and rebuild the starter adapter in our
engine shop," offered mechanic Philip
McQuaid. But starting the engine to get
it there with this problem would require
hand-propping-something I'd normally
never ask anyone to do. Manual propping may be common for starting a small
engine such as that of a Piper Cub, but it's
far more difficult and dangerous for high-

STARTING THE ENGINE TO GET THERE WITH
THIS PROBLEM WOULD REQUIRE HANDPROPPING-SOMETHING I'D NORMALLY
NEVER ASK ANYONE TO DO.
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Flight Training - May 2015

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