Thank you to all the list members who sent me suggestions to explain why my engine would start and then quickly die. the problem is now fixed and as most people guessed there was an air leak in one fitting that’s a mechanic had simply not tightened. once I got to Alaska it only took a couple of hours to find the problem. thanks again m. Richard P -- Richard Packard Professor Emeritus Physics Department University of California Berkeley, CA 94720 http://physics.berkeley.edu/people/faculty/Richard-Packard 510 525 0279