Incident Overview
A flying club airplane sustained substantial damage during an instructional flight after a fire erupted from the engine compartment during engine start. The aircraft was being flown by a commercial pilot with no previous flight time in the accident airplane, accompanied by an instructor.
Start Attempts and Fire
According to the instructor, the engine was over primed during the first engine start attempt. A flooded start procedure was then used for a second attempt, but the engine still failed to start. After the second attempt, smoke was seen emanating from the engine cowling. The commercial pilot reported that after the first start attempt, the engine was primed again but still would not start. When smoke was observed, the commercial pilot was instructed to continue cranking. Subsequently, a fire ensued.
Post-Fire Actions
The commercial pilot stated that after the fire erupted, he searched for a fire extinguisher but none was found. He also reported that the mixture control was retarded to the idle cutoff position while he continued cranking the engine following the second start attempt.
Post-Accident Inspection
A post-accident inspection of the cockpit revealed that the mixture control was in the full rich position, and the fuel selector was not in the off position.