Start of the air-cushion craft

Start of the air-cushion craft means: start of the engine, build up the air cushion, switch to 'hover' regime; set off. The surface relief of the start of the craft should provide its proper bearing of flexible protection elements. The startup becomes difficult when there are big gaps.

The engine startup must be carried out in the following order.

Before the engine startup it is necessary to check availability of the cooling liquid in the expansion tank (visual test) and oil in the oil tank (feel test), located under the hood in the aft of the craft; fuel in the fuel tank according to the fuel rate indicator located on the console (photo 1 position 2).

Before getting into the cabin, make sure you do the following:

• do pre-start priming of the cylinders by swinging the primer 3-5 times. The primer is located in the aft of the deck under the hood along the right board.
• switch on the 'ground off' button under the console (photo 1 position 21). The 'ground' button is on (photo 1 position 7).
• switch on the 'fuel pump' button (photo 1 position 23) on the console for 10 sec to make the fuel system full.
• Draw the 'inflow' handle located in the cabin along the right board.

Then get into the cabin:

• push the 'gas' handle 5 mm up, push it 20 mm forward
• turn on ignition, turn the ignition key to the right (photo 1 position 20)
• press the ignition key and turn it to the right, switch on the starter (like in a car) and after starting up leave the key alone
• switch off the 'petrol pump' button
• warm up the engine
• after warming up the engine up to 60°C push the 'inflow' handle (in the cabin)
• give the 'gas' handle forward increasing the engine rotations up to 1500-2000 rpm. (It is located to the right from the front seat.) The air cushion should get up.

After the air cushion is built up you should leave the cabin and pump up the balloons up to 0,03-0,04 kgf/sm2 (0,4267-0,5689 psi).

• Turn the rudder in the direction you need, push the 'gas' handle forward increasing the engine rotations up to 3000-4000 rpm. The craft should start moving.
• As soon as the temperature of the cooling liquid reaches 80-90°C, you are to leave the cabin and open the cover of the oil and liquid radiators.

Caution!

After along-lasting parking of the craft and engine fuel change, it is necessary to motor the engine for making the system full with oil. You need to switch on the 'ground' button; without switching on ignition, motor the engine with the starter by pressing the red button above the ignition key. Regime: 10 sec start, 20 sec break, 10 sec start. Furtheron, start the engine in the normal regime.