A B737-300 first officer became distracted with takeoff performance calculations during engine start...

Narrative:

During pushback; captain directed me to start the number 2 engine. Additionally; ramp control relayed the expected runway for departure; which was different from the planned/briefed runway. Per our new procedures; I was responsible for completing the entire engine start procedure. After bringing the start lever to idle; I noticed a rise in the egt stated 'light off' and began working on the performance runway revision while trying to monitor the start. Due to my task overloading; I failed to recognize the egt was approaching limits. This was compounded by the aircraft's analog gauges; which do not indicate starting egt limits nor give a visual cue to an approaching limit. The captain noted the impending overtemp and directed a stop start. I accomplished the boldface procedure and then ran the engine start abort checklist as directed. The aircraft was returned to the gate for maintenance; cleared; and we departed approximately 30 minutes late. The engine did exceed egt start limits of 725 degrees and peaked at 749 degrees. Additional duties should be delayed during engine start or handled by the captain to prevent first officer distractions including radio operations during start.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737-300 First Officer became distracted with takeoff performance calculations during engine start and failed to detect and stop an engine overtemp on start so the aircraft returned to the gate for maintenance.

Narrative: During pushback; Captain directed me to start the Number 2 engine. Additionally; Ramp Control relayed the expected runway for departure; which was different from the planned/briefed runway. Per our new procedures; I was responsible for completing the entire Engine Start Procedure. After bringing the Start Lever to idle; I noticed a rise in the EGT stated 'Light Off' and began working on the performance runway revision while trying to monitor the start. Due to my task overloading; I failed to recognize the EGT was approaching limits. This was compounded by the aircraft's analog gauges; which do not indicate starting EGT limits nor give a visual cue to an approaching limit. The Captain noted the impending overtemp and directed a Stop Start. I accomplished the boldface procedure and then ran the Engine Start Abort Checklist as directed. The aircraft was returned to the gate for maintenance; cleared; and we departed approximately 30 minutes late. The engine did exceed EGT start limits of 725 degrees and peaked at 749 degrees. Additional duties should be delayed during engine start or handled by the Captain to prevent First Officer distractions including radio operations during start.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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.

Attributes
ACN	1045830
Time
Date	201210
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-300
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Turbine Engine
Person 1
Function	First Officer
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 211 Flight Crew Type 900
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

A B737-300 first officer became distracted with takeoff performance calculations during engine start and failed to detect and stop an engine overtemp on start so the aircraft returned to the gate for maintenance.