Plane Accidentally Starts Moving With 6-Year-Old Inside

"vaughn" wrote in message
...

"BT" wrote in message
...
Is it an accident that you did not do as instructed?
Or is it negligence.

The two are not mutually exclusive, so your answer is "both". We are
all capable of doing dumb things. (though some of us may be more capable
than others)

Vaughn

True, although the point that has been missed in this discussion, on at
least two newsgroups, is the maintenance issue--especially with respect to
the breaker points in the magnetos.

When the breaker points, a/k/a e-gap, are not correctly set, there will
usually be insufficient spark to easily start the engine be hand propping.
When that problem occurs, it is discuoragingly common to experiment a little
in an effort to get the engine started. Also, most people are unaware of
how much thrust the engine can develop--the old rule of thumb is about one
fifth of the certificated gross weight of the aircraft and most production
aircraft with fixed pitch props come very close to that number. That means
many of the tie down ropes and anchors, especially the temporary varieties,
are little more trustworthy than chocks for the purpose.

I have heard a couple of very amusing old stories in which the aircarft
supposedly flew after "getting loose" when hand propped. In both of the
most entertaining cases, the aircraft eventually landed safety. In one
case, the pilot hand propped an Ercoupe and the pilots wife, who was a
frequent passenger but not a pilot, was in the aircraft and "stepped up" as
a pinch hitter--successfully landing rather firmly but without damage after
a couple of missed approaches. In the other case, the pilot's young son,
aged around 6 years, was in the aircraft and sinply waited untill the
aircraft landed itself due to fuel exhaustion--although I personally
susspect that the kid may have also "stepped up" and influenced the landing
site to favaor an especially flat and open area. In both cases, the
throttles had supposedly been advanced to facilitate a difficult start, and
the engines supposedly commenced to operate at about 1800 RPM.

Therefore, IMHO, proper maintenance of magnetos would be at least as
effective a solution as any other!

Peter

A SAFE, HEALTHY, AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR TO ALL !!!!