I thought i would film it without the n/d filters on (which makes it like daylight) So what you see is what it was like at brunty with all of the atmosphere
Hi Peter, yeh seen that clip a few times now and Ive been listerning to the engine note prior to shut down and dissussing it with my counterpart in crime
Ummmmmmmm, its to answer at the moment, what basiclly happened was the starter ran for its full 9 seconds, which brings the engine (No2 first) up to 34% idle speed, it then stablized and ran for maybe 30 seconds and then shut its self down, at this point I looked at my 'oppo' Jim and we said S*** ! together
Our first thought was a seized engine as it stopped very quickly, less than the 1 mim 30 sec standard run down time.
We had a chat and decided to run the the No1 engine first to allow the No2 starter to cool (you should give it 1 hour by the book), after the No1 had run successfully we had another chat and did some basic checks, which included making sure the HP **** opened ok which is in the port wing root, it opened ok, we then knew that we were getting fuel from the tank.
We then removed a panel on the starboard side and made sure the throttle had full travel, which it did.
I should have gone down the intake at this point to make sure the engine wasnt seized solid (you can normally turn it by hand easily) but having no ladders and everyone watching and waiting in the dark by then we decided to go for it again, and it started normally as per the previous start but Im not sure whether you noticed (I did) the RPM dropped alot after the starter had cut out after the 9 sec's, it dropped to below 34% idle to about (I guess) 22% then picked up very slowly, this is a sign of fuel starvation, which can have several reasons, the easy one, air in the fuel system, fix = (bleed it, hatch open job), the hard one, the FCU (fuel control unit) on the No2 engine, fix = another engine Im affraid !
You might have noticed me and another guy watching our watches tick by after the pilot had given the shut down signal, this we watch very closely and all was normal with the run down time.
What we are gonna do now ? (well once 728 is fixed) is to run 904 again (probably Jan 09) after we have bled the fuel system and see what happens.
Its an unknown at the moment Im affraid, but as Ive said many many times she's a Lightning and very unpredicdable
Hello Gents
