ORIGINAL: Zaney1

Oh Dear!!!!!!

I can tell you what probably happened. I don't know if this is your first inverted motor but you probably filled the head with fuel(flooded) and then hit the solid fuel with your starter and the motor could not turn over. This is called "hydraulic lock". This is why I dont like inverted motors. Four strokes are much better inverted as they have valves that can drain the fuel.

We must always turn over inverted motors by hand(without glow) to make sure that the head has not filled up with fuel before putting the starter onto it. If you feel it is solid, pick up the plane and turn it to the side with exhaust outlet facing the ground and rock the prop backwards and forward. You will then have fuel running out the exhaust. Once you can flick the motor over by hand, you can then safely try starting the motor again. This problem is compounded by new motors because we tend to start off with the needle valve wide open so lots of fuel can run through to the motor and your tank is probably way above the needle alve so the fuel will just run into the motor.

As far as the repair of the airframe goes, it can be easy if done properly. Use a good 30 minute epoxy and just tape the firewall back in place. The design on funfly's is generally not to make the firewall too strong and rather pick up a good motor after a mishap than trash the motor and have the firewall intact. Remember you will be doing plenty of low level stuff and the ground is unforgiving.

The classics say " Out of all the altercations between aircraft and ground - the ground has yet to loose one"

Good luck with your repair.