Narrative:

We attempted to start engine #1 and had to abort it due to a hot start. We had noticed the APU reached at temperature of 678 degrees. At that time an 'engine exceedance' message appeared on the EICAS. We then reviewed the QRH. I explained to my first officer that a similar situation occurred in another location where maintenance cleared the message and told me that if the exceedance time is a second or less; it can be cleared and signed off as airworthy. Since the aircraft had no prior history of hot engine starts or related issues; I felt confident it would be safe to fly. We then started engine #2 successfully even though the APU ran hot again (670 degrees). We shut down the APU and started engine #1 via cross bleed. All engine indications appeared normal during the start; after start; and taxi checks. Upon our arrival; we advised maintenance of the situation. Even though the 'engine exceedance' message no longer existed on the EICAS I wrote it up in the logbook. My previous experience with the situation led me to believe that the aircraft was safe to fly. Had I been more attentive to the engine start instead the pushback; the hot start may have been avoided entirely.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: EMB170 Captain experienced hot start during engine #1 start; start was terminated and #2 started successfully. Engine #1 was subsequently started using cross bleed and flight departed; hot start wass written-up at destination.

Narrative: We attempted to start engine #1 and had to abort it due to a hot start. We had noticed the APU reached at temperature of 678 degrees. At that time an 'engine exceedance' message appeared on the EICAS. We then reviewed the QRH. I explained to my First Officer that a similar situation occurred in another location where maintenance cleared the message and told me that if the exceedance time is a second or less; it can be cleared and signed off as airworthy. Since the aircraft had no prior history of hot engine starts or related issues; I felt confident it would be safe to fly. We then started engine #2 successfully even though the APU ran hot again (670 degrees). We shut down the APU and started engine #1 via cross bleed. All engine indications appeared normal during the start; after start; and taxi checks. Upon our arrival; we advised Maintenance of the situation. Even though the 'engine exceedance' message no longer existed on the EICAS I wrote it up in the logbook. My previous experience with the situation led me to believe that the aircraft was safe to fly. Had I been more attentive to the engine start instead the pushback; the hot start may have been avoided entirely.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.