NO, you should NEVER jump start an airplane that was certified with a battery as original equipment, unless that aircraft was certified with a dead battery and I’m not aware of any that have been.
Batteries are your power supply if and when you experience a failure with the electrical generating system.
FAR 23.1353(h) requires a battery backup for 30 minutes, but that regulation didn’t come out until 1987 and doesn’t apply to aircraft that were certified earlier.
The CAA and JAA require 60 minutes’ backup power, and rumor has it that the FAA will follow.
With the introduction of electronic instrumentation, ignition and FADEC the requirement for dual generating and airworthy battery systems on single-engine airplanes is becoming standard.
It takes over three hours to charge a dead battery with the aircraft generating system, so “JUMP STARTING” is NOT SAFE, because there is not sufficient time to recharge a dead battery prior to T.O.
There is a story I had heard about a guy who chartered an airplane that had a dead battery. He offered to “jump start” it with his car; the pilot agreed to allow the customer to use his car and cables to jump start the airplane.
Somehow after the engine was started, perhaps with the cowling bouncing around and maybe the cables snapping off, but in the excitement of it all the customer got into the propeller and killed himself. Charging or replacing the dead battery would have been cheaper in the long run.
Another time a twin engine airplane had two dead batteries and after an external start, during T.O. one engine failed. The other generator did not have sufficient capacity to charge the two dead batteries and support the load of putting the gear up, etc., and tripped off the line and the airplane crashed. Pretty expensive compared to charging or replacing the dead batteries.
One of my first foremen at Servair in Detroit (when I worked part-time after school from Aero Mechanics High) became permanently disabled when he attempted to prop a Bonanza and the prop broke his knee in several places. Pretty expensive compared to charging or replacing the dead battery…..
During those early years another guy had a dead battery in a Champ and after hand-propping it, the throttle was open far enough to allow the airplane to get away (pilotless) and fortunately the gear hit a curb before the airplane became airborne. It sheared the gear off and broke the prop. We were able to repair it, but it would have been cheaper to charge or replace the battery.
Skip Koss is Vice President of Marketing of Concorde Battery Corp. www.concordebattery.com
