Narrative:

Push crew cleared us to start the left engine on pushback. Left engine started normally. Push crew advised we were clear to start the right engine. The right engine start was initiated. I could hear and feel that the push crew was having difficulty getting the tow bar disconnected. I asked them if they needed a mechanic to look at it. The push crew advised that they now had the tow bar disconnected. At that time I noticed the egt on the right engine appeared to be increasing faster and higher than normal. We both felt a couple of muted thumps. I moved the fuel control switch to cutoff as the first officer reached for the qrc. N2 on the right engine never reached starter cutout. At nearly the same time I heard the push crew say something to the effect of we had smoke coming from the right engine. We did the engine tailpipe fire qrc. The first officer went to the manual for reference action items. I asked the push crew if they saw any smoke or fire. They said no; it was out. Also at the same time we were getting dinged from the flight attendant's. I advised the purser that we had an engine tailpipe fire and we had been told the fire is out. I made a quick PA to the passengers that we had experienced a tailpipe fire when starting the right engine and everything appeared to be ok now. I advised them we would eventually be going back to the gate and to remain seated. The following the reference actions we let the right engine motor for several minutes. Several mechanics walked up to the aircraft from adjacent gate areas. I had the push crew put a mechanic on the headset so I could get verification that there was no smoke; fire or fluid leakage. The mechanic confirmed there was none. Fire department vehicles were now present. After the fire department and mechanics verified that the aircraft was indeed stable; we were pulled back to the gate and the passengers were deplaned normally. The right engine had several start anomalies the previous day including a hung start. The previous day write-ups had been cleared and the aircraft had since flown. The max egt reached appeared to be 504 deg C. The ground start limit is a maximum of 545 deg C. After completing parking checklists and securing the cockpit we went to the ramp to visually inspect the engine area. The engine and nacelle appeared normal. The lower rear part of the wing aft of the engine had damage on the flap track fairing and flap areas.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Flight Crew of a B757-200 suffered an abnormal start on the right engine during pushback. Reports from ground crew indicated a tailpipe fire had occurred; which was verified later by visual inspection.

Narrative: Push crew cleared us to start the left engine on pushback. Left engine started normally. Push crew advised we were clear to start the right engine. The right engine start was initiated. I could hear and feel that the push crew was having difficulty getting the tow bar disconnected. I asked them if they needed a mechanic to look at it. The push crew advised that they now had the tow bar disconnected. At that time I noticed the EGT on the right engine appeared to be increasing faster and higher than normal. We both felt a couple of muted thumps. I moved the fuel control switch to cutoff as the First Officer reached for the QRC. N2 on the right engine never reached starter cutout. At nearly the same time I heard the push crew say something to the effect of we had smoke coming from the right engine. We did the engine tailpipe fire QRC. The First Officer went to the manual for reference action items. I asked the push crew if they saw any smoke or fire. They said no; it was out. Also at the same time we were getting dinged from the flight attendant's. I advised the Purser that we had an engine tailpipe fire and we had been told the fire is out. I made a quick PA to the passengers that we had experienced a tailpipe fire when starting the right engine and everything appeared to be OK now. I advised them we would eventually be going back to the gate and to remain seated. The Following the reference actions we let the right engine motor for several minutes. Several mechanics walked up to the aircraft from adjacent gate areas. I had the push crew put a mechanic on the headset so I could get verification that there was no smoke; fire or fluid leakage. The mechanic confirmed there was none. Fire department vehicles were now present. After the fire department and mechanics verified that the aircraft was indeed stable; we were pulled back to the gate and the passengers were deplaned normally. The right engine had several start anomalies the previous day including a hung start. The previous day write-ups had been cleared and the aircraft had since flown. The max EGT reached appeared to be 504 Deg C. The ground start limit is a maximum of 545 Deg C. After completing parking checklists and securing the cockpit we went to the ramp to visually inspect the engine area. The engine and nacelle appeared normal. The lower rear part of the wing aft of the engine had damage on the flap track fairing and flap areas.

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.