Watch how an F-22 Raptor jet engine startup happens!

Have you ever seen and heard how an F-22 Raptor’s Pratt & Whitney F119 engine starts?

Most probably our readers remember the B-52’s MITO departures: crew members and crew chiefs rushing to the planes followed by a series of “booms” with white smoke. That’s the effect of “cart-starts,” small starter cartridges, coffee cup sized shotshells used to jumpstart the engines removing the need for ground power or air start.

Older aircraft used external air compressors or cartridges for engine start-up whereas new aircraft, like the F-22 Raptor feature self-startup on internal power.

The following video shows a stealth aircraft starting up the Pratt & Whitney F119 turbofan engine (delivering thrust in the 35,000 lbf class) at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia.



About David Cenciotti
David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.