Pilot injured when hand propping plane

N659HB said:
Mine will not start at idle.
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And don't forget folks set their idle RPMs differently too. If you like and can get by with a very low idle with a metal prop, you will have more trouble than someone who has a higher idle if you don't open it all for cold starting.
 
Tom-D said:
When you place a dead battery on full charge from an old generator, That generator will last about 10 minutes. now you got real problems.
Be safe folks,, don't use a simple battery charge to create a real problem. Fine some one with jumper cables to give you a jump, but place the cables on the battery and allow the car to partially charge the battery before you crank the engine. About 5 minutes from a car will charge the aircraft's battery enough to start it.
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This works, used to have to jump my plane from my car when it was tied down in the winter. But once I got the engine running I would never disconnect the car while the prop was spinning, instead would run the plane till it was hot, shut down, disconnect, then start up again.
 
hankrausch said:
This works, used to have to jump my plane from my car when it was tied down in the winter. But once I got the engine running I would never disconnect the car while the prop was spinning, instead would run the plane till it was hot, shut down, disconnect, then start up again.
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Smart. !
 
RoscoeT said:
And don't forget folks set their idle RPMs differently too. If you like and can get by with a very low idle with a metal prop, you will have more trouble than someone who has a higher idle if you don't open it all for cold starting.
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Having the idle set to low only begs a mistake in setting the throttle for start.
 
idahoflier said:
I have heard that this can damage a vacuum pump, any truth to that?
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Not true. the vanes in a vac pump are aligned so as to be pushed back into the rotator when turned backwards. We A&Ps turn the prop backwards when we time the engine, and it doesn't harm anything.
So why would re-aligning the prop for any other reason be harmful?
 
A very long time ago when I was a teenager I was at the airport. I saw two older guys, real old guys, probably in their mid 40s working on a plane.

The plane was an old bi-plane with a radial engine. I don't know what kind of plane it was.

These two guys did what I now know as a pre flight, walking around looking at things, checking movements, and all that.

One of the guys crawled up into the front cockpit, the other guy stood at the front of the plane next to the prop.

I wasn't close enough to hear what they were saying. The guy on the ground took the prop and turned it a few times. Then I heard him yell "ready".

The guy in the cockpit then yelled back, "ready".

The guy on the ground yanked on the prop. A few popping sounds came from the motor and then stopped.

The guys repeated their yelling, and the guy on the ground yanked the prop again. This time the engine started running. But the guy on the ground got his wrist watch caught on the blade. He jumped up trying to uncatch his watch. That failed but when he jumped the other blade caught his pants leg right at the bottom.

He started yelling and then the prop spun him around several times before the prop stopped and he fell to the ground.

The other guy jumped out of the cockpit and ran to the guy on the ground. He grabbed him by the collar and yelled... "Roy..!! Are you Ok..?? Speak to me, Speak to me..!!!"

Thy guy on the ground opened his eyes and looked at his buddy. "Why should I speak to you.?? I just passed you a dozen times and you didn't say a word to me....."
 
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Tom-D said:
Not true. the vanes in a vac pump are aligned so as to be pushed back into the rotator when turned backwards. We A&Ps turn the prop backwards when we time the engine, and it doesn't harm anything.
So why would re-aligning the prop for any other reason be harmful?
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Couldn't think of a reason, that's why I asked... ;-) Thanks!
 
AKBill said:
So what is the biggest engine one could hand prop?
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I once had to jump the plane to get it started then made a short flight to get fuel at a different airport. After refueling it wouldn't start so I had to had prop a 200 hp Arrow. No problem, second pull.
 
wsuffa said:
Or "what happens when you don't set the brake..."

http://www.wlwt.com/article/troopers-pilot-hit-by-own-plane-at-clermont-county-airport/20898984
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My hand-propping motion concludes with a step back after the downstroke. Propped a Stinson for an old guy once (now I am old, too) and we did the
switch on, switch off" routine just like in the book. The engine caught during a "switch off" and it turns out that he was killing the master, not the ignition. My routine retreat after the downstroke gave him time to realize what was going on.

Bob
 
bobmrg said:
My hand-propping motion concludes with a step back after the downstroke. Propped a Stinson for an old guy once (now I am old, too) and we did the
switch on, switch off" routine just like in the book. The engine caught during a "switch off" and it turns out that he was killing the master, not the ignition. My routine retreat after the downstroke gave him time to realize what was going on.

Bob
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Yeah, it may look silly, but I like to make sure I'm moving away from that prop on the downswing.
 
Previously posted in the Purple Board Mod Forum...

I was kicking around the hangar today. Most times I have the airport to myself, but today the fellow in the next hangar came over and introduced himself. He's got a nice looking Taylorcraft that he was planning on washing. After pulling it out of the hangar, he came back over holding a set of chocks and asked if I would be kind enough to hold onto the tail while he hand cranked it. No problem.

I leaned my butt on the right side of the tail and grabbed the hand hold while he got things set up. He warned that he was going to start it, and then swung the prop. It's a good thing I was there because the next thing I know, the engine is roaring at what sounds like full power. Despite putting my full weight into the tail and holding on for dear life, this airplane was moving. My sneakers were skipping across the concrete and the plane started to turn left towards the next set of hangars. It was looking ugly, and the guy was nowhere to be seen. I quickly made a plan that I would just let this thing go in a circle while I skipped across the ramp hoping it didn't go anywhere else and eventually put the wing against the hangar so I could shut the thing down.

After about an hour of this, which was probably more like 5 seconds, the owner came around from the front the plane and put his weight into the strut on the left side. The plane finally stopped moving after about 45 degrees of turn. With the plane under control, he finally reached in and pulled the throttle back to idle.

After everything settled down, I noticed the chocks were nowhere to be found. WTF!! He thanked me profusely for saving his plane, then hopped in so he could taxi over to the wash rack.

About an hour later, I heard some noise coming from his hangar. He pulled that thing all the way back, rather than risk starting it again.



BTW... I own that plane now and I hand prop it from the rear with the door all the way open so I can grab the throttle as soon as the engine catches. Haven't had a problem doing it that way.
 
I got the expert advice on not being able to hand prop a Rotax after I had already done it. My student forgot to engage the alternator breaker and I missed it. Started right up, engaged the breaker we flew home and battery was charged when we got there.
 
I hand propped my Cherokee to get home a couple times. First time I tried charging the battery. When that didn't work I bought a new battery. I didn't ever have to hand prop it after that.
 
Everyone here that has hand propped a plane.... well, you are braver than I.
 
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