Flight Training - December 2014 - 28

ACCIDENT REPORT

Dan Namowitz
MAHOGANY was the wood most
used to make propellers through
World War I.

RISKY START-UPS

DON'T BECOME A VIDEO STAR

I

t's the ultimate anticlimax. Flight planning is complete,
weather checked, fuel topped off, and the preﬂight inspection
complete. Passengers are briefed and belted in. They wait in
giddy excitement as you run the engine-start checklist.

Anticipation builds as the mixture goes
to rich, you prime, set throttle, open the
window, and yell, "Prop clear." Master
switch on, ignition switch to Start.
And nothing happens. Now what?
How you answer that question can raise
your stock as a safety-conscious pilot, or it
could make you the star of a YouTube runaway-airplane video-even result in a trip
to the hospital for you, your passenger, or
a total stranger standing nearby. In many

involved. (So keep an eye on any such
activity you observe on your ramp.)
An unexpected response to hand-propping caused an unsecured Cirrus SR22 to
cross a ramp and strike a ditch in Eden
Prairie, Minnesota, on Decenber 6, 2012,
after the pilot's effort to engage the starter
was unsuccessful.
"The pilot said he turned off the battery
master switch, exited the airplane, and
walked around to the front of the airplane.
He reached through the door and thought
the ignition key was off. He pushed the
propeller down through one compression
stroke. The engine immediately started.
The pilot jumped on the left wing, but

a careful eye on bystanders, whose reactions can be unpredictable. In Albemarle,
North Carolina, a recently ﬂown Cessna
172 was being restarted using an external
power supply on December 2, 2012, when
the engine suddenly produced "a loud
noise" as the owner was disconnecting
the cables, according to a local newspaper
report. The student pilot who had been
ﬂying the airplane with an instructor, who
had been standing behind the airplane
during the start-up operation, had moved
forward, and was struck on the left arm by
the rotating propeller. The student's arm
was severed in the accident, the report
said. The NTSB's online accident summary noted that "neither the owner nor
the instructor observed the student walk
from the rear of the airplane to the front
until the airplane's engine made an unusual
sound, and they then noticed the student

CESSNA WARNS THAT WHEN FOLLOWING ANY
PROCEDURE, TREAT THE PROPELLER "AS IF THE
IGNITION SWITCH IS TURNED ON."

pilot's operating handbooks, it is a simple
matter to look up procedures for different
engine-start scenarios. For example, the
procedures for starting the engine provided in a 1980 Cessna 152's POH address
three scenarios: warm weather, temperatures near freezing, and starting an engine
that is "still warm from previous operation." Cessna warns that when following
any procedure, treat the propeller "as if
the ignition switch is turned on."
Cautions notwithstanding, sudden
starts still catch pilots by surprise. If the
pilot failed to make sure that the aircraft
was secured, with switches and controls in proper position, the operation
quickly can become a hazard to all parties

28 /

FLIGHTTRAINING.AOPA.ORG

fell off. The airplane traveled across the
ramp and struck a ditch between runways
28R and 28L, breaking off the nose gear
and buckling the ﬁrewall. Postaccident
examination disclosed the ignition switch
functioned normally," according to a
National Transportation Safety Board
accident summary, establishing probable
cause as "the pilot's failure to ensure the
airplane was secured prior to attempting
an engine start by hand-propping."
Pilots engaged in extraordinary means of
starting an aircraft must remember to keep

running from the front of the airplane." The
NTSB determined probable cause as "the
student pilot's failure to remain clear of the
airplane's rotating propeller."
A stark illustration of the risks of
hand propping can be viewed on YouTube in an old training ﬁlm made when
a cameraman happened to be present
when a pilot attempted to hand-start an
untied, unchocked taildragger with a
passenger aboard (www.youtube.com/
watch?v=AeTM-paAXCo). Give it a
glance. Then recalibrate your ideas about
start-up scenarios and safety.

Air Safety Institute: Accident Analysis
Dan Namowitz is an aviation writer and ﬂight

The Air Safety Institute's accident
database is searchable with accident
analysis dating back to 1983
(www.aopa.org/Pilot-Resources/
Safety-and-Technique/Accident-Analysis).

instructor. He has been a pilot since 1985 and
an instructor since 1990.

PLUS See a video of a handpropping gone wrong.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeTM-paAXCo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeTM-paAXCo http://www.aopa.org/Pilot-Resources/Safety-and-Technique/Accident-Analysis http://www.aopa.org/Pilot-Resources/Safety-and-Technique/Accident-Analysis http://FLIGHTTRAINING.AOPA.ORG
Flight Training - December 2014

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