i_am_lugnuts Posted April 12, 2020 Posted April 12, 2020 Oh boy... I think I've broken my F-18. I typically like to start cold and dark but use auto start to speed things along. After the right engine spins up there is a message telling me there was a right engine rpm failure and the auto start sequence aborts with the right engine running normally as far as I can tell. As far as the gauges say it is idling at the correct rpm. I've tried restarting, rebooting, and several different missions. All with the same result. What gives? Has this happened to anyone else? Have we gotten an update within the past few days that might be the issue? Looks like I might be starting hot on the ramp for a while. Or could it be I've just punished my F-18 so much in recent weeks that it's just saying "Enough!" lol
Harker Posted April 12, 2020 Posted April 12, 2020 Was it during a winter mission? I don't use auto start, but I remember reading about a situation exactly like the one you described, but it triggered during cold weather. Does it start up OK with a manual start? The vCVW-17 is looking for Hornet and Tomcat pilots and RIOs. Join the vCVW-17 Discord. F/A-18C, F-15E, AV-8B, F-16C, JF-17, A-10C/CII, M-2000C, F-14, AH-64D, BS2, UH-1H, P-51D, Sptifire, FC3 - i9-13900K, 64GB @6400MHz RAM, 4090 Strix OC, Samsung 990 Pro
BuzzU Posted April 12, 2020 Posted April 12, 2020 I don't use auto start but i've broken the Hornet by letting it get hit by a missile. Careless on my part. Buzz
i_am_lugnuts Posted April 12, 2020 Author Posted April 12, 2020 No. It was in Nevada in April. I'm pretty sure I had it at the default of 20c. Haven't tried the manual start yet. But I think it will work that way. The engine seems to run fine. It idles as it should and there are no warnings or caution lights. I would strongly suspect there would be some lights and some noise in the cockpit if there truly was a failure. I think it's just an autostart issue. And it's new if it is. I've flown this thing for 2 months now with no issue. Until today.
i_am_lugnuts Posted April 12, 2020 Author Posted April 12, 2020 I don't use auto start but i've broken the Hornet by letting it get hit by a missile. Careless on my part. Done that. But crashing into a tanker is worse. lol
Raisuli Posted April 12, 2020 Posted April 12, 2020 I don't use auto start but i've broken the Hornet by letting it get hit by a missile. Careless on my part. Missiles have inadequate warning labels. It looked friendly to me. I'm sure there's some consumer protection agency out there with which we can lodge a complaint. As for RPM failures...never seen one, but I never auto-start. Either airstart or push most of the right buttons.
Creepy Posted April 13, 2020 Posted April 13, 2020 No. It was in Nevada in April. I'm pretty sure I had it at the default of 20c. Haven't tried the manual start yet. But I think it will work that way. The engine seems to run fine. It idles as it should and there are no warnings or caution lights. I would strongly suspect there would be some lights and some noise in the cockpit if there truly was a failure. I think it's just an autostart issue. And it's new if it is. I've flown this thing for 2 months now with no issue. Until today. I just encountered the same issue the other day, standard environmental day but at Tonopah (~5,000’ MSL)... auto start gave that error after a successful right engine start with normal parameters. Continued with a manual start for the left. I didn’t have this issue starting at Nellis... so I’m leaning towards ED having some APU/engine parameters simulated for higher density altitudes that trips the error and stops the auto start sequence... even though the IFEI shows normal start/stabilization parameters.
VFA41_Lion Posted April 13, 2020 Posted April 13, 2020 Pretty sure you can start the Hornet faster manually than the auto start ever could. Try skipping all the lights and BIT tests and just go straight from battery on > APU on > right engine crank > move from off to idle at 20 RPM.
i_am_lugnuts Posted April 13, 2020 Author Posted April 13, 2020 I just encountered the same issue the other day, standard environmental day but at Tonopah (~5,000’ MSL)... auto start gave that error after a successful right engine start with normal parameters. Continued with a manual start for the left. I didn’t have this issue starting at Nellis... so I’m leaning towards ED having some APU/engine parameters simulated for higher density altitudes that trips the error and stops the auto start sequence... even though the IFEI shows normal start/stabilization parameters. Interesting. My bird was cold and dark at TTRA. I'll give it a try at other airfields and maps. THX...
i_am_lugnuts Posted April 13, 2020 Author Posted April 13, 2020 Pretty sure you can start the Hornet faster manually than the auto start ever could. Try skipping all the lights and BIT tests and just go straight from battery on > APU on > right engine crank > move from off to idle at 20 RPM. I think this is probably accurate for me as well. Since I've been forced to do it properly it's been a bit quicker to get going. But I still do the Bit on the FCS. Just cuz it's cool. :)
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