Well, not having a starter, I've been too chicken to

do this.  I know that

they are supposed to airstart just fine, but call me

yellow and I'll

answer, "Yes, sir!".  A good idea if you have a

starter on board.  Fortunately

both of my engine failures have been partials with

one in a nice field,

not a scratch on anything and the other onto an

airport, ditto.  The second

used my loran "nearest airport" feature ("10.2 miles

at 245 degrees" is

forever

etched in my brain!) a REAL life saver.   I suspect

that realiable "nearest"

features may have saved more butts in the last 15

years than any other

aviation development EVER -- for bad WX and rough or

failed motors.

I personally know of many saves, one total engine

failure that landed on

an airport, many partial failures that lasted long

enough to make that little

field you didn't even know was there, plus

several, "will you look at how

bad the vis just got, boy, I gotta get this crate on

the ground NOW!" for

me and several friends.

Bill Freeman
Long EZ builder & pilot
BSME, MSME
EAA Technical Counselor

BILL?????!!!!!........No starter on your bird?....I'm
surprised at you, I thought you were a Chicken S--T like
me? :-)
                                   Butch

Well, there is some reasoning behind the decision for no starter.

The EZ empty wt is 826 lbs.  The ring gear/flywheel, starter, 00 wire
(25 ft+) and larger battery would add over 10% to the empty wt.
Have only really wanted a starter once, coming down from backpacking
in Sept in Wyoming, the air temp at the airport was about 25F
(unusually cold) and I still had 50wt oil.  Took 45 minutes to
get it started, bad news.  Otherwise, it has almost never been
a problem.  I use 15W-50 now, no problems down until about
15F.  I have a pretty good heater, but rarely fly in 15F weather.

Bill Freeman
Long EZ builder & pilot
BSME, MSME
EAA Technical Counselor

Bill do you have electronic ignition or mags? With electronic
ignition the advance can be set to zero and the engine hand
props much easier. I watch Klause do it every day and it starts
on the first flip 90% of the time. Of course we don't see
25 degrees F here ever :-)

Is 15-50 available for aircraft engines? I need to buy some oil soon
when it comes time to change the break-in oil.

Paul Lamar
 
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