Over the weekend, I happened to run across the guts of a turbine from an Auxilliary Power Unit (APU). Upon closer inspection, I noticed chipped blades on the output wheel. The owner admitted that when he first started it up, he introduced fuel at low RPM. It ran, but several hot chips flew out of the exhaust. He shut it down and then learned of the catastrophic damage. “It was an expensive lesson” went the apology.

I’ve flown turbine helicopters on several occastions, but I never started them myself. The owner/operators were very concerned about hot starts. After seeing the potential damage first hand, I don’t blame them.