As I noted a few years ago in this thread, hand propping doesn't have to be as ugly as these reports suggest. In fact, in every one of these cases, the operator failed to take one or seven precautions......with ugly results.

This spring, I sold my Piper PA-11, which was equipped with a C-90. No electrical system. So, for around 150 hours a year, the last five years, I managed to safely hand prop that airplane.....by myself, since I almost never carried a passenger, and I wouldn't trust them in any case.

When i first got the plane, it had a Marvel Schebler carburetor, which, unlike the standard Stromberg carb on these planes, has a very effective mixture control. I had a mixture cable installed, and for every start thereafter, I simply started the engine with the mixture set to idle cutoff. The engine would run for maybe five or six seconds after firing....enough time to reach in and push the mixture to rich......assuming the throttle was set properly.

I ALWAYS hand prop from behind if at all possible. Few things frighten me more than standing out in front of a rotating meat cleaver, with nothing to grab, fall onto, or lean against.

I am a firm believer that every fuel injected airplane should be equipped with a manual primer, to facilitate propping if need be.

Now, for those not comfortable with hand propping, you need to cruise right down to your auto parts store, or get on line and order one like these: https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywo ... h03ljwkn_b

THEN, you need to figure out how to SAFELY connect one of these things to the battery in your airplane so that you can start your plane.

I recently did a flight review with a gent in an airplane he'd left the master on the night before. Fuel injected.....no manual prime, and access to the battery required removal of the entire cowling....(REALLY??? Who thought that was a good location?). Fortunately, the mechanic who did the installation installed a trickle charging connector. I connected my jump pack to that, which was not robust enough to crank the engine via, and had the pilot prime the engine with the fuel pump. Disconnected the jump pack, hand propped the engine, and went flying.

But, a good idea is to make certain you have SOME sort of connector available either externally or easily accessed, where you can connect your jump pack. SAFELY.

Oh, and I use the jump pack more for charging my phone, gps, IPad, etc, than for starting engines. But, it's always there

MTV

Seen this one yet?

Hey! That's my Interstate Cadet on page 1
I bought that plane out of Colorado after it had been taken apart! I thought the owner said it got away from him while taxing because it had the small 6:50x6s on it??