On Tuesday, June 2, 2015 at 7:34:47 AM UTC-7, krasw wrote:
Surely jet engine cannot be more unreliable than Solo two-stroke that you need to dive to start. If it would, you would be lucky to start it even once.

Solos don't need a dive to start. You can start them that way if your starter battery is dead but normally you never need to do this.

Anyways, Jim, I think once you get used to starting a turbine you'll find its very reliable. But, it can fail to start.. things like a failed thermocouple is all it takes for the start sequence to halt. Also too much air in the line can do it if the lines weren't purged properly... clogged line filters can create a low rpm fail start. Otherwise, properly maintainted they work great with a well charged starter/ignition battery.