Plane Accidentally Starts Moving With 6-Year-Old Inside

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,473498,00.html

PALESTINE, Texas — Federal investigators are looking into an accident
involving a small plane at an eastern Texas airfield that injured a 6-
year-old girl.

Palestine fire officials said the girl was alone in the Cessna 150
when her 81-year-old grandfather, Virgil Fielden of Fairfield,
manually started the engine of the two-seat plane Sunday afternoon.

Fire Capt. Kyle Betterton says the plane began rolling unexpectedly
and crashed into nearby woods. He says it never left the grounds of
Palestine Municipal Airport.

Betterton says the girl wasn't seriously injured but was airlifted to
Children's Medical Center in Dallas as a precaution. Fielden was
treated for minor injuries at a Palestine hospital.

Palestine is about 100 miles southeast of Dallas.


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A grandpa trying to share some good memory with his granddaughter. He
should have asked for help in getting the plane started. His heart
was ni the right place. Glad no one was hurt.

Monk

It may have been an "accident" when the unpiloted aircraft hit the trees.
But it the airplane did not accidentally start moving.. that would be
negligence on the grandfathers part
Now.. if the airplane had been tied down during the hand propping and a tie
down broke.. then that might be considered an accidental incident

And for Monk.. why do people have to keep positing things that are in the
news, on the news services, on the electronic emails such as AvWeb or
ePilot.

BT

"Monk" wrote in message
...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,473498,00.html

PALESTINE, Texas — Federal investigators are looking into an accident
involving a small plane at an eastern Texas airfield that injured a 6-
year-old girl.

Palestine fire officials said the girl was alone in the Cessna 150
when her 81-year-old grandfather, Virgil Fielden of Fairfield,
manually started the engine of the two-seat plane Sunday afternoon.

Fire Capt. Kyle Betterton says the plane began rolling unexpectedly
and crashed into nearby woods. He says it never left the grounds of
Palestine Municipal Airport.

Betterton says the girl wasn't seriously injured but was airlifted to
Children's Medical Center in Dallas as a precaution. Fielden was
treated for minor injuries at a Palestine hospital.

Palestine is about 100 miles southeast of Dallas.


--------------------

A grandpa trying to share some good memory with his granddaughter. He
should have asked for help in getting the plane started. His heart
was ni the right place. Glad no one was hurt.

Monk

"BT" wrote

But it the airplane did not accidentally start moving.. that would be
negligence on the grandfathers part

I would have to agree with that, also. We don't need silly incidents like
that for GA... It makes everyone look stupid.

Now.. if the airplane had been tied down during the hand propping and a
tie down broke.. then that might be considered an accidental incident

Yep.

And for Monk.. why do people have to keep positing things that are in the
news, on the news services, on the electronic emails such as AvWeb or
ePilot.

I think that is just someone trying to make conversation, and trying to be
nice by telling people who do not get one of the mentioned services about
things like this happening. As long as it is just a once in a while type of
thing, I really don't mind seeing it brought up again, even if I already
read it in one of the publications.

Does it really bother you? I suppose that is silly to ask, since you
brought it up, but I guess I wonder why, and how bad it gets under your
skin.
--
Jim in NC

On Dec 29, 9:48*pm, "BT" wrote:
It may have been an "accident" when the unpiloted aircraft hit the trees.
But it the airplane did not accidentally start moving.. that would be
negligence on the grandfathers part

Wouldn't that still be an accident? Are you suggesting that if the
plane was not tied down it was a "on purpose"?

In anycase, its not always practical to tie down the tail (especially
in areas without tiedown). I had 3 ways to secure the Aeronca and J-3.
Brakes, chock, tail tiedown. I would always use 2 of those 3. Many,
many times I started the plane when no tie down was available but then
I would use a chock and the aircraft brake (which was marginal). One
thing that "electric" pilots do not realize is that its very, very
hard to guess how much power the engine will develop when it first
starts. Sometimes it will just be idling, other times it will start
with a big roar. Once you've started the plane you can walk around,
put it in a low idle, and then unsecure the airplane.

-Robert

Robert M. Gary wrote:
One
thing that "electric" pilots do not realize is that its very, very
hard to guess how much power the engine will develop when it first
starts. Sometimes it will just be idling, other times it will start
with a big roar.

I seem to remember a rule about a licensed pilot at the controls when
hand propping.

Am I dreaming?

On Dec 31, 1:34*pm, B A R R Y wrote:
Robert M. Gary wrote:
One
thing that "electric" pilots do not realize is that its very, very
hard to guess how much power the engine will develop when it first
starts. Sometimes it will just be idling, other times it will start
with a big roar.

I seem to remember a rule about a licensed pilot at the controls when
hand propping.

Am I dreaming?

In the US you are. That is a Canadian rule. I can't ever remember
having a licensed pilot when I was hand proping. In truth its only
scarry to those that haven't done it. In fact you have to stop
yourself every once-in-a-while because it becomes so common its easy
to let your guard down. If I had to have another pilot around that
would have killed 90% of my flights.

-Robert

Robert M. Gary wrote:
On Dec 31, 1:34 pm, B A R R Y wrote:
Robert M. Gary wrote:
One
thing that "electric" pilots do not realize is that its very, very
hard to guess how much power the engine will develop when it first
starts. Sometimes it will just be idling, other times it will start
with a big roar.
I seem to remember a rule about a licensed pilot at the controls when
hand propping.

Am I dreaming?

In the US you are.

Maybe I'm thinking of an airport rule...

On Dec 31, 3:01*pm, "Robert M. Gary" wrote:

Am I dreaming?

In the US you are. That is a Canadian rule. I can't ever remember
having a licensed pilot when I was hand proping. In truth its only
scarry to those that haven't done it. In fact you have to stop
yourself every once-in-a-while because it becomes so common its easy
to let your guard down. If I had to have another pilot around that
would have killed 90% of my flights.

Canadian rule does not require a competent person at the controls
if the airplane is prevented from moving. Here's the reg:

Starting and Ground Running of Aircraft Engines

602.10 (1) No person shall start an engine of an aircraft unless

(a) a pilot's seat is occupied by a person who is competent to control
the aircraft;

(b) precautions have been taken to prevent the aircraft from moving;
or

(c) in the case of a seaplane, the aircraft is in a location from
which any movement of the aircraft will not endanger persons or
property.


In my case, I have a really strong parking brake. And if I have
to use more than fully-closed throttle, I tie the tail down.

Dan

On Dec 31, 4:34*pm, B A R R Y wrote:
I seem to remember a rule about a licensed pilot at the controls when
hand propping.

Am I dreaming?

I know some airports require it. I can't find anything FAR's
regarding it in a quick web search.

The FAA's Airplane Handbook however (which is not a set of rules but
rather a textbook) suggests a person "familiar with the controls" to
be inside the plane.

The few guys I know at the airport who have planes that need to be
hand propped generally just find anyone nearby. Several times I've
seen one guy who owns a pretty nice J-3 let one of the younger
teenagers that hangs around the airport sit inside while he propped
the plane, and as a "present" he let the kid taxi it over to the fuel
pumps.

Of course he's not much for regulations even if that was illegal. I've
seen the same guy take that little plane off from the parking ramp
rather than taxi out to the runway O.O.

Mike Gaskins

B A R R Y wrote:
Robert M. Gary wrote:

One
thing that "electric" pilots do not realize is that its very, very
hard to guess how much power the engine will develop when it first
starts. Sometimes it will just be idling, other times it will start
with a big roar.


I seem to remember a rule about a licensed pilot at the controls when
hand propping.

Am I dreaming?


Except when you fly to an unattended airport, fuel up (U-Fuel Self
Service) with your credit card, find there isn't a soul there except you
and you still have 300 miles to go to your destination.