T-28 Trojan Fennec Start Up Engine: Curtis Wright R-1820-86B according checklist.

Hi my name is Michael and we start together a North American T-28 Trojan. First of all you need to make a proper walk around to check the aircraft is clear to start and free of any foreign objects. You remove the pitot cover of course, you check the oil level, the hydraulic fluid and you check that you have got enough nitrogen in the struts. And that the propeller is free. This is the left side of the fuselage where you can see a pin is coming out behind the exhaust stacks. There it is and this pin is simply there so you can step on it to check the oil level and the oil reservoir is on top here. There's a small flap you can open and there's the access to the oil tank. You need to make sure that you've got enough oil to lubricate the engine and to cool it down. There you see the normally you have a handful spacing for the struts of course on the nose wheel and the main wheels. Some warbirds you have to turn the prop to get rid of the residual oil on the bottom cylinders. On the T-28 this is not necessary. You have a clutch between the starter and the engine. So if the engine is blocked because of the oil then the clutch will open. So if you have oil on the bottom cylinder it will be blown out on the bottom exhaust of the exhaust stacks. On our T-28 we have a quick oil drain system and this allows the oil to drain while the aircraft is standing. So you collect the oil in a canister and bring it back before you start. Here's the checklist and the first item on upper left is the control lock. The control lock is placed under the seat and there you see on this scheme you have to pull out the pin and with the control lock off you have full control of aileron, elevator, rudder and the throttle lever. The next thing is the seat and the pedals you adjust. It's easy. The cockpit air it's a lever on the left side and the trim. This is the rudder trim. This is quite important. You move it to five degrees or six degrees nose right to prevent to fight against the torque. The next thing is the throttle. You open a little bit so the engine runs smooth. After the start the throttle is lever is there on the left side. You open just three quarter of an inch. Then you make sure that the propeller lever is full forward so on high rpm. Propeller lever is there the black small lever on the right hand side of the throttle lever. Then on the checklist it says that mixture has to go to idle cutoff and this is a pressure carburetor that's why you start the engine with a mixture idle cutoff and there's the red lever there so you move it to the left to the idle cutoff position for starting. Then we adjust the friction of the three levers. The friction knob is there it's just to make sure that with a after takeoff with a with a high vibration the levers are not moving by themselves. Then the carburetor air goes to direct. This is because we don't have any ice on the ground. The lever is on the left side so you pull the lever to the position direct and then quite an important point are the cowl flaps. These flaps are located behind the engine or around the engines and these are flaps which are moved to the full open position on ground according to the Trojan handbook. This is to make sure you have always cooling and they are of course you have to switch the battery master on first to operate the cowl flaps. The battery master is located on the right hand side on the electronic panel. It's a small switch with bat on or master on and off and the cowl flap switch is on the left hand side there. It's a toggle switch with an open position and a closed position so you can move the cowl flaps to any desired position. It's quite important on the ground you always have them fully open. After takeoff you go to trail position which is about one third and in cruise you close them completely. Of course you have a cylinder head temperature indication and so here on this T28 you see them fully open on the ground and with the cylinder head temperature you can control the temperature of the engine so you see if you have to close or open them. The next point is the heater. Some T28s are equipped with a heater and for start you of course switch the heater off and the next step you check if the landing gear is down. Landing gear is operated hydraulically and if you've got hydraulic pressure and the gear pins are not in then you can raise the gear on ground which will cause a big damage. This is the gear lever on the left hand side of the cockpit which is in down and lock position and then you check that the park brake is on. Park brake is there the red handle so you pull and depress the pedal so to engage the park brake. These are the rudder pedals with the brakes on top and the next step is the ignition. Ignition lever is a red lever or handle which has position off, left, right and both and you make sure that the ignition is off. The ignition is not like on a car which car has on and off. The aircraft has got two spark plugs per cylinder and two ignition system a left one and the right one therefore you have a level with the position left, right and both. You check if the engine is running, you check if both ignition systems or both magnetos are working and this you do on the run-up at a certain rpm you move the lever to left, both or right position. Then you switch the master switch or the battery master on and you check the voltage. On a T28 you have 24 volts so you make sure battery master is on and you check on the voltmeter that you have 24-25 volts depending on the strength of your battery. Then you have to make sure that your radio master is off due to the induced high frequency while starting you can prevent any damages to the avionics that's why you make sure that the radio master switch is off. Then the gear with the battery master on you have a down and a light position so gear has to be down and locked and you check that the chip detector is off and the fuel quantity. The chip detector light is there it indicates if you have any metal parts in the oil and then you should switch off the engine immediately. You have a fuel gauge you make sure you have enough fuel and the endurance if you have full fuel is roughly three hours but when you fly aerobatics you can burn the whole fuel in less than I would say one and a half hour. On the checklist you have an oil shut off valve and sometimes you have a dark and clean kit depending on the on the version you switch it off and then you pre-oil the engine. There is the pre-oil switch you make sure you have about 30 psi this is to make sure that the engine is completely filled with oil before you start and you switch the beacon light on this is to warn the ground crew or any other pilots that you're going to start the engine. You switch the fuel boost pump on check you have 13 psi and the fuel boost pump is located on the left hand side the red handle there you turn it clockwise to the on position and then you hear the sound of the fuel pump and then it's time to start the engine. The sequence is you engage the starter you make sure that the mixture lever is in the cutoff position and you prime for about four seconds five seconds if the engine is hot you count 12 blades and only then you switch the ignition on. Of course with the throttle a little bit open prop full forward mixture idle cutoff this is quite important otherwise it won't start. On the electric panel you see the primer button and the starter button this is the primer button which injects fuel directly into the cylinders and this is the starter button which engage the starter to turn the whole engine so first you press and hold down the starter button you count 12 blades while priming for four seconds and if you have a hydraulic lock on the bottom of the cylinders the clutch of the starter we discussed already will open so you make sure you will not damage the engine and when you see some white smoke by starting some warbirds this is all the oil which which collect which was collected actually here you see the starter well great ready and then ignition on priming and then you keep the engine turning with the primer and only after a while you switch or you move the mixture lever to a normal position or to a rich position and of course immediately you check if you have enough oil pressure otherwise you have to switch the engine off then you raise the flaps they are hydraulically so you have to check if you have hydraulic pressure usually around 1000 to 1200 psi there's the indicator for the hydraulic pressure and you check visually left and right if the flaps are coming up symmetrically there you see the flaps and as the engine is and the generator is providing some power you can switch the radio master on and then then depending on the outside air temperature you have to wait and run the engine at around 20 inch and about 1200 rpm to warm up all the oil so that's the procedure of starting a north american t28 engine and the engine is made by Curtis Wright it's a Wright Cyclone R1820 cubic inch dash 86b and then you're ready to go thanks for watching this video and have a nice day