YouTuber stumped as to why his abandoned Piper airplane wasn’t starting realized he only needed to flip a hidden switch

This man from Florida found an abandoned airplane, a Piper PA-23 private jet, that was pretty roughed up and refused to start.

The plane featured two engines, and while he got one working, the other wouldn’t start no matter what he tried.

He spent hours trying to figure out the problem and somehow managed to get both engines running.

Only after that point did he learn that a mysterious hidden switch was preventing the engine from starting.

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Man tries saving an abandoned airplane

James Webb from the Jimmys World YouTube channel found this abandoned airplane that had been collecting dust and rust for over seven years.

In a video he posted, he showed the dusty Piper PA-23 aircraft’s shabby condition, but he was keen on trying to start it.

For context, James is the same person who bought Elvis Presley’s private jet and converted it into an RV, so he knows what he’s doing when it comes to aviation.

He also discovered the world’s largest biplane in an American field which he planned to restore.

If anything, that tells you that he knows his way around all kinds of planes.

As for this Piper PA-23, he began with inspecting the left engine, which, despite its neglected appearance, didn’t look too bad.

James connected a new battery to verify if all the avionics and sensors worked — which they did.

Will the engines start?

Most of the hardware was intact, but he found some oil leaks that would later need fixing.

A handful of crank attempts and a few switch-flicking moments later, he successfully got the left engine running.

The other engine, however, wasn’t as easy to please as the first one.

James checked all the relevant wiring, fuel gauges, and spark plugs, but the effort didn’t bear any fruit.

At this point, he was more than 10 hours in and didn’t want to give up.

He re-checked all the wiring and flicked more switches, which ultimately became the solution.

The second engine was up and running again, and he jumped with excitement.

The next morning, the person who was storing the airplane mentioned that he had disengaged the grounding switch so no one could steal it.

That same grounding switch was preventing this abandoned airplane from starting up completely — which Jimmy spent hours working on.

Regardless, it got a second lease at life, just like this other Boeing 737 that James successfully revived.