Had a hand propping where my bird got away from me and whacked into a
pole. Had the tail tied down, brakes set, and wheels chocked. I was
careless in that I didn't check the strength of the rope and since I was
in the grass the chocks needed to be larger than my usual chocks. The
throttle was, in fact, advanced a bit too far. On start up the rope
broke, the wheels slid in the grass and rode over the chocks, I grabbed
the wing and turned the plane around and eventually had to let go. It
weathervaned right around again and smacked into a pole. Luckily, no one
hurt and no major damage to other aircraft. I'm rebuilding my bird now.
This was the first time I had ever started it without someone at the
controls.

Things I should have done: I could have turned the fuel valve off after
priming the engine. The engine would have run long enough for me to turn
the fuel valve back on. I could have tied a string from the throttle
back to the tail tiedown. That would have retarted the throttle as the
plane moved forward. Lesson learned is that one should take as many
precautions as humanely possible when handpropping.

What I REALLY should have done: Installed the perfectly good starter
that I had sitting in my shop.


In article ,
"Ron Natalie" wrote:

"Cub Driver" wrote in message
...

Incidentally, the original poster (I think) said that a pilot had to
be at the controls. I was instructed that a pilot or *mechanic* had to
be.

As others have pointed out, there are no requirements in the regs (other than
the
catchall don't be a hazard). Back when I was pre-student pilot, I helped a
guy
start his taylorcraft. It takes about two minutes to explain how to work
the mags
and mixture.

It's unbelievable to me that people would hand prop a plane without either
someone
at the controls or the aircraft restrained. Nearly all of these accidents
happen because
the throttle is a little more advanced than expected. Even if you had to
leave the
controls unattended to untie the running plane, it would be safer (as you'd
have the
chance to bring it back to a safer idle first).


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