The engine must be started only in a clear, safe area. A suitable place is a recently mown lawn, free of dust or anything else that could be drawn in by the propeller.

In order to avoid polluting the wing with oil from the exhaust and to aim the propeller airflow towards a clear area, it is better starting the engine first before attaching the wing.

Check first, either by sight or by touch, all the parts that may move, unfasten, or unscrew because of engine vibrations. Due to many unpredictable situations that may occur, it is almost impossible to set up a standard check-list for every pilot. We strongly recommend your develop your own procedure and checklist.

Whenever starting or running your paramotor, please excercide extreme caution and awereness.Check for anything that could hinder the safe operations of the engine!

Before each starting:

Carefully check for belts, wires, tubes, etc. to be tighten, if loose, they could be caught by the propeller.

Open the tank air hole, if any.

Check for the gas throttle to allow a full opening of the valve, one must hear a particular sound from the carburetor, either shut or full open (a kind of tick). Should you not perceive any sound, try to find out why; The wire may be damaged or frayed.
Should you not find out the solution to this problem, avoid starting the engine! The throttle could be jammed full open!
You can hold the engine only at idle. At high RPM, it may not be possible to safely hold the engine against its own thrust.
Remember, once you loose control of the engine, there is no chance to get close enough to switch it off.

Check for the earth wires not being frayed or cut, those in the thermostat (if any) of the motor head as well.
A frayed contact prevents the engine cut off
A skinned wire to earth may cause undesired engine cut off.

An emergency switch off can be made:

by a shunt between the coil low tension wire and the engine ground

by shutting the gas tap or squeezing the gas pipe (it takes about two minutes)

by hand plugging the airflow to the filter.

Either by sight and by touch, check all the reachable bolts and knots, those subjected to major vibrations as well as those not easily reachable (muffler, engine mounting), must be checked at regular intervals (around every 10 hrs, or every two refueling).
By hand turning the propeller check for the cage being, in every point, particularly near the spokes, at a distance from the blades of 2.5 in. (4 fingers).
Check the conditions of the propeller as well as the guard net.

Do not start the engine with people around!

Always follow the aeronautical procedures. Before starting the engine do shout: “Prop clear”. Be sure to be heard by everybody around you. Avoid people stopping or standing by your side.

The most dangerous places to stand are in the direction of the plane of the propeller, since it is from this direction that any object, either forgotten by the pilot or raised by the wind (belts, buckles, specs, screws, bolts, keys, lighters...etc.) can be flung around at high speed.

At full rev, the prop's edge turns at 370 mph. pushing the air backward at more than 62 mph. Do pay particular attention to the anti torque belt as well as well as to the harness ones; do always fasten them before starting the engine. At these speeds sand, grass, raindrops can badly damage the propeller, anything that bounces on it can be shot around like a bullet.

STARTING THE ENGINE

Do not start the engine without the propeller
the engine will over-rev very quickly and may blow up if you attempt to run it without the propller.

it does not exist any rev limiting device
the mechanical parts have been designed for the speed rates thought with the propeller

over revving can be catastrophic for the integrity of the engine.

Do keep the engine hold to the ground when starting the engine!
Before starting the engine make ready to resist the prop's thrust: do not hold the frame by the guarding net!
Should you loose the catch you may enter straight on the prop's working area which is invisible when the prop is turning.

AVVIAMENTO.jpg (16853 byte) Hold the frame only on the horizontal tube above the engine (the higher one) so not to press on the gas.

Do prepare yourself to oppose to:

the starting handle drawing (hand-starting)
the prop's thrust
the prop's torque that, while revving up, could make the framework turning, looking from the engine side it tends to turn clockwise (opposed to the prop's rotation)

TO START THE ENGINE

HAND-STARTER

can be done in 4 different positions:

standing up in front of the engine resting on the ground

sitting down, strapped into the harness

standing up with the motor on your back

in-flight.

After holding the gas handle, so to get an easy access to the switch off push-button:

gently pull the handle in order to find the initial compression position

go back to the starting point by letting the rope rewind (to get more stroke to go)

gently pull until hooking the starting device

than pull with firmness.

The engine resting on the ground must be held by a hand on the frame about the same height of the recovery pulley

When you start it from this position while holding the accelerator, you may involuntarily speed it up following the engine thrust

Start the engine by a proper series of actions, particularly mind that the starting device or the pulling string may be damaged by:

furious jerks in directions different from the natural one from the recovery pulley
jerks without having allowed the hooking of the starting device
a too long run of the string with overloading on the end of the stroke
a too fast release of the starting handle (it must be gently taken back to the resting point)
repeated attempts to start a flooded engine.

start with a diaphragm carburetor

The starting procedure must be differed form the very first starting after a pause of many hours, and repeated ones. The carburetor is provided with a diaphragm pump that runs of a pulse from the crankcase. It can suck up fuel from the lower tank, but in order to work properly, it must be wet of gas or fuel oil (evaporated mixture).

If the engine has been off for a long time, the depression caused by the gas weight on the circuit may dry the diaphragms so that the carburetor cannot perform its task. Do check the see-through gas pipe if the gas reaches the carburetor, usually only few centimeters of the pipe are filled with gas and an air bubble may arrive to the fuel tank. Those few centimeters are usually sufficient to start the engine but they will be used up in a while and after few seconds the engine will tend to cut out until it can suck up the mixture it needs.

If the engine has been off for a long time it may needs a richer mixture for the very first starting (more gas and less air). In order to richen the mixture (only for a cold-start), flip up the starter switch (Choke) A to position 2 (90 degrees from the airflow) and pull-start the engine until it starts. It will die after a moment. Then, flip the Choke back to position 1 (in line with the airflow) and re-start the engine. It may be necessary to open the throttle just the slightest amount to keep the motor running while it warms up.

VALBRO

TILLOTSON

A 1

A 2

If the engine has been off only for a score of minutes you do not need any particular setting, simply restart it. Just pay attention to see if the engine "abates" because of poor flow of mixture, in case, just give a bit of gas so to flood the circuit before the engine shuts off.

Just after starting the engine may need being accelerated a little bit.

The engine must start immediately, should it not happen after 2 or 3 attempts, avoid insisting and verify to have followed the right procedure.

The warm up takes at least a minute is necessary, the engine must be steadily accelerated to reach the right working temperature and to free it from waste

The warm engine with the right carburetion starts at the first attempt.

With a bit of practice you will always find the suitable technique, just bear in mind how long the engine has been off.

AFTER A LONG RESTING

or after a refueling, the gas pipe from the gas tank may be partially or fully emptied.

To pump gas quickly :

Shut the starter in position 2 and give full gas while pulling the starting handle. To ease the turning of the engine and facilitate the fuel pumping, just remove the spark plug until the circuit is flooded.

When the engine turn the spark plug, inserted on his cap, must touck the head !

or fill the circuit by a light fuel overpressure (acting on the hand pump or blowing by the mouth into the tank air hole) and operating the diaphragm B by the tip of a ball-point pen on the carburetor hole.

CARBURATORE.jpg (15549 byte)

TROUBLESHOOTING

If the engine is flooded , it is very hard to restart it, do not insist.

There can be two type of solutions :

a) with a chugging engine unable to revving (strong chugs but rare and uneven) do give full gas for few seconds, the flow of fresh air should improve the carburetion, if not, shut it off and wait a minute before restarting it. The fuel evaporation leads to a lean carburetion.

b) the flooded engine that does not chug is easy to recognize because of the unburnt gas smell that comes out the muffler, the wet spark plug is unable to cause the stroke. Remove the spark plug, give full gas and make the engine turning for 10 seconds. Fix the spark plug, after being dried by a flow of air or by a rug, the engine should start immediately. If it does not start you may have to use a new spark plug

You can recognize a mixture too lean in presence of frequent chugs but gradually less strong, that is the engine "abates", this is normal during the first 30 seconds after the very first start. Should this continue for a longer period you have better cheek the carburetion screws. The warm up demands 20-30 seconds, than you can give gas freely in order to clean out the waste.

For other kind of problems go to : troubleshooting.

MIXTURE

We recommend the use of a 100% Fully SYNTHETIC OIL (we suggest castrol TTS or equivalent), 2% in volume, (some oil can be use at lower rate).

In case you wanted changing type, please choose one with similar characteristics.

Please practice cleanliness and accuracy while preparing the mixture.

Petrol /Gasoline type : Use the highest Octane old style leaded fuel (if possible), not the newer Unleaded fuel! (Unleaded runs much hotter). If only Unleaded is available in yoru area, then choose the highest Octane available.

You can use unleaded gas as well, but with a muffler without a catalytic converter the exhaust gases are more polluting. Should this be the case, please verify that the oil you use is suitable for this kind of gasoline.

The oil mixture made with synthetic oil must be used as soon as possible, within a few days of mixing, so do not prepare too much of it.

It is better to store the fuel in metal tanks, you can even use polyethylene tanks but only for short time.