DC-3 exhaust fire on start up...would you be worried?

Michel Lemieux · **Posted:** Wed Sep 30, 2020 4:37 pm

DC-3 exhaust fire on start up...would you be worried?

I need to start by the simple fact that I am NO expert.

Go at 5:28. Is this normal occurrence?

How does this happen with big radial and is it only through the exhaust?

Again just trying to expand my knowledge and not judging or judging. Just curious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DN64jlnO6s

A great plane with great folks owning and flying it.

phil65 · **Posted:** Wed Sep 30, 2020 6:13 pm

I'm guessing he over prime it a bit, good thing they had a fire extinguishiner standing by...

Phil

Decamara · **Joined:** Wed Jul 31, 2013 4:14 pm **Posts:** 72

Looks pretty basic to me

CAPFlyer · **Posted:** Wed Sep 30, 2020 7:10 pm

Pretty typical stack fire. Once it fired, the fire blew out. I would definitely want to have a mechanic look over the skin just to be safe, but probably nothing serious. The oil-fed stack fires on Caribou are much more problematic (and common) and there's records of Caribou having holes burned in the wings and flaps and still flying just fine (in combat conditions) for weeks and months.

ZRX61 · **Joined:** Tue Jun 14, 2005 10:16 am **Posts:** 2308

pppfffbbfftt...

Archer · **Joined:** Tue Nov 30, 2004 3:13 pm **Posts:** 433

Pretty typical example of a too-rich mixture burning off in the exhaust. Once the excess is out of the cylinders, the engine fires and blows out the fire.

The Tigercat is a tricky situation. A lot of radials manage to leak fuel during starting or dump any excess overboard after a starting attempt. If this then ignites you end up with something that you cannot sort out from the cockpit. I've seen this happen on a B-25 as well.

sledge39 · **Joined:** Thu Jun 29, 2006 1:01 pm **Posts:** 262

...screen grab...

Richard Woods · **Posted:** Thu Oct 01, 2020 3:08 pm

Happens occasionally on ours, especially to some that seem to think the primer button is like running a choke on a car. The worst one we had was when a gust of wind licked the flame under the cowling on one of the outboard engines and lit the fuel draining out the intake.

More often than not its a just brief flame, then gone again.

Spitty · **Posted:** Thu Oct 01, 2020 4:35 pm

Happened to Kermit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UkfX4by8SE

leo · **Posted:** Thu Oct 01, 2020 5:46 pm

As an Air Race attendee for over 40 years, there are several I see every year as those high strung engines and exotic fuels get together.
Have never seen any damage they usually blow away when the engine fires up.

Michel Lemieux · **Posted:** Fri Oct 02, 2020 9:39 am

Thank you everyone....was just curious as to the normality or not!

Dave Hadfield · **Joined:** Sun Sep 17, 2006 10:31 pm **Posts:** 1672

It's all about the primer. Some move fuel quickly, some not. When you're flying regularly you soon know how many strokes, or how long to hold the switch, for that particular airplane. They're all a bit different.

But if you are moving from airplane-to-airplane, or if a poor primer has been repaired, you can end up squirting too much fuel in, and excess comes out the exhaust stack, burning.

If you're in doubt, it's best to sneak up it. Under-prime, get it turning, then apply more until it starts.

It happened to me this spring in the Spitfire IX. The primer worked MUCH better than last year.

[youtube]https://www.facebook.com/VintageWingsOfCanada/videos/272728987515945[/youtube]

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Vzlet · **Joined:** Mon Jun 17, 2019 8:50 am **Posts:** 31

There's a C-97 example 15 seconds into this video: https://flic.kr/p/2g7W68V

Michel Lemieux · **Posted:** Fri Oct 02, 2020 4:27 pm

Thank god for metal skins!

Very interesting.

The Tigercat pic is most interesting!

Brenden S · **Posted:** Fri Oct 02, 2020 5:30 pm

Hot engine, hot day, too much fuel. It happens from time to time and relatively normal.

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