A friend of mine is flying a brand new P60-SE in a Jet Legend CT-114 Tutor. We did a test run on the engine a couple of weeks ago and everything went smoothly. However, we took it to the field to fly twice this week, and the engine has failed to start several times.

The engine gets into the acceleration phase of the startup, and after 8 to 10 seconds, it suddenly shuts down. The GSU says "Acceleration Slow," apparently indicating that the engine didn't reach idle RPMs (50,000) in the time allotted. Last Max RPM usually reads around 32,000. When this happens, we shut down, wait a few minutes, and try again. Usually after a couple of failed starts, the engine starts just fine. Once it starts, it runs just fine throughout the flight.

We've watched the fuel line carefully, and there appear to be no bubbles causing the shutdowns. We've also tested the fuel pump, and it is working fine. Just before shutdown occurs, we hear a noise like flames shooting down a pipe. But there is no flame visible coming from the engine.

Any idea what's going wrong and how to fix it? The engine has three flights on it now, and if my count is correct, it has 4 successful starts and 6 or 7 failed starts.