wrote:
The painted tips make the prop barely visible for day operation in my
opinion. The accident happened at night... not sure how visible the
prop is at night.


The back of every prop I have ever seen is painted black. Presumably
to not be a distraction to the pilot while flying. Therefore the prop
disc would not be visible from the back. A 172 with the high wing
makes stumbling into the prop while exiting the plane fairly easy. At
least easier than a low wing. I have exited low wing planes with the
engine running on a few occasions and felt safe. Of course I never
walked past the trailing edge of the wing. Would not attempt this on a
hi wing tho.....

j