Flight instructor flying PA-44 aircraft encountered engine fire during engine start.

Attributes
ACN	1743880
Time
Date	202005
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	PA-44 Seminole/Turbo Seminole
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Parked
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Instructor
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Commercial
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 20 Flight Crew Total 1627 Flight Crew Type 170
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor

Narrative:

During employee retraining flight; we initiated left engine hot start checklist; after two attempts engine not starting; we started the right engine in order to preserve battery and letting the left engine cool down. We tried again after a little bit of priming and still did not work; so we conducted flooded start checklist. That is when I noticed smoke coming out of cowl and cowl flaps area; I then decided to shut down the right engine; directed pilot to get out of the aircraft. On my way out; I changed fuel selector to off position and took the fire extinguisher just in case. I directed pilot to inform operations as well as ZZZ airport authority. After we got out of the aircraft; I continued to observe smoke then small amount of flame coming out of the left cowl flap area. I deployed the fire extinguisher into the cowl flap as well as the air inlet area.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Flight Instructor flying PA-44 Aircraft encountered engine fire during engine start.

Narrative: During employee retraining flight; we initiated left engine hot start checklist; after two attempts engine not starting; we started the right engine in order to preserve battery and letting the left engine cool down. We tried again after a little bit of priming and still did not work; so we conducted flooded start checklist. That is when I noticed smoke coming out of cowl and cowl flaps area; I then decided to shut down the right engine; directed pilot to get out of the aircraft. On my way out; I changed fuel selector to off position and took the fire extinguisher just in case. I directed pilot to inform Operations as well as ZZZ airport authority. After we got out of the aircraft; I continued to observe smoke then small amount of flame coming out of the left cowl flap area. I deployed the fire extinguisher into the cowl flap as well as the air inlet area.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.