I'll start by saying that this did not happen to me, but I was around to see the aftermath and hear what happened from the guy. I won't mention names/planes, but I thought this was worth sharing for the sake of others. Wasn't sure if this should be listed under 'Accident Analysis' or 'Live To Tell'.

I was out flying yesterday and when I came back to the terminal to hang out, there was commotion and talk of an accident. After asking around, I heard the story from the guy himself with a bandaged head.

The pilot, a young guy probably early 30's, is a regular at the field with an early 182 (O-470). He was trying to start the plane yesterday morning outside of this hangar and was having some trouble, he was suspecting the cold engine. Apparently after 15-20 minutes of trying, he decided to do some checking at the engine/prop. He had forgotten to turn off the magnetos before getting out of the plane, and when he turned the prop just a little, it caught and started the engine. He obviously wasn't expecting this and his head was in the way. I didn't see the wound until it was bandaged, but it looked pretty rough, right on his forehead into his hairline. The engine completely started and was running after it knocked him to the ground, knocking him out for a time period of between a couple seconds and a minute (he said). Luckily there was someone in his or a nearby hangar who ran over and reached inside to kill the engine. I guess he woke up at about this time. He was totally coherent and talking and seemed fine when I talked to him, which a big gash on the front of his head and a big bump on the back from hitting the ground.

It was a pretty scary story to hear, not much room between that kind of accident and death. It's ironic that the engine started on a accidental hand prop it after trying to start it for so long, but that's how life goes. The pilot knew he was lucky and knew his mistake, seemed like it was the simple distraction of having issues starting the engine that made the magnetos slip his mind.

Hope someone can learn from this or take this kind of accident a little more seriously because of it.

-asa

One of the things I emphasize when I take people flying is that the propeller is dangerous--always assume that it will start moving. I hate to see a picture of some passenger or pilot leaning on the prop. I would hate even more seeing that person lying on the ground, mutilated and bleeding. Yet I often see people who should know better, moving props manually and otherwise putting themselves potentially in harm's way.

Thanks for posting the incident.

Cary

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Wow, that guy is lucky to be alive. This is something I'm always super mindful of. I have a 3 bladed prop and I position it by hand so that one blade is straight up and the other 2 are as high off the ground as they can be. I do this so my 2 small kids won't accidentally run into a blade when they're running around the hangar. I always double check the mags are off, mixture and throttle are out, and move the prop super slow and stay out of the way just in case it fires. Still makes me nervous though.

Along the same line, do not forget about this type of accident when checking compressions. Even when you are at that sweet spot where there is no pressure, the slightest movement can start that prop spinning. I have seen both types of accidents, some a lesson learned by both the recipient of the prop striking them in either the head or hands and the people around to witness the event or the aftermath. And one fatal where only others had the chance to learn. It was not a pretty sight.

We had that happen several years ago at our local airport. A guy named John Jeffries tried to hand prop a Cessna Cardinal and it nearly took his head off. Split his skull open, damn near killed him. He survived the incident and lived several years afterward, but he was not ever back to 100%.

He had been a local legend around here, he was one of the two guys who actually built the famous plywood model of the starship Enterprise for the Star Trek series in the early 1960's.

I've taught hand propping for many years to students of mine. It's a skill that far too many people try the first time without any "adult supervision", and that's not a good way to learn.

And, learning how to prop an airplane "the right way" also helps to develop a pilot's respect for that big meat cleaver up front. Once you learn to prop an engine, you'll realize how easy it is to start one inadvertently as noted here.

I've done sessions with students with an airplane with no spark plug wires connected, to try to make it as safe as possible, to give them the "feel" for it, then moved to a "live plane" once they've had a chance to practice.

A pair of folks came out to Cold Bay to ferry a Cessna 180 back to ANC that had been sitting for at least a year. Right after they started working on it, one of them pulled the prop through, and on the third blade, it caught and ran for a few seconds....fortunately, the gent had got out of the way just in time, but it scared both of them. Both mags were in the off position......P-Lead was broken on one. That was close.

Since my plane doesn't have an electrical system, every start is via arm strong. Makes you very respectful of propellers.

MTV

We just had a fatal 2 weeks ago in my neighborhood. No one really knows for sure how it happened, his friends were concerned when he did not show up so they went to his airport looking for him, they found him dead from prop, very sad. Be careful. Proper instruction is vital to hand proping.

It's rare to hear about a prop strike to the head and live (or return to normal neurological function). Glad this one turned out OK...

I have been taught that when repositioning the prop to move it backwards so the impulse couplings do not fire.

I have never handpropped a plane. My plane was built after the invention of electricity.

Asa - Thanks for posting this. As you know, I hand-prop my J-3. I think I am careful and take prudent precautions, but engaging the Armstrong also becomes routine and the risk of lowering one's guard is real. Reminders like this are always sobering. We all "know" how dangerous propellers are, but we are also human and get in hurries or make mistakes and skip steps. I'm sure glad that this incident didn't end with tragedy.

Hate reading stuff like this. I teach my kids to never ever touch a propeller when they are with me in the hangar or where ever, and I'm a mean ass about it too. When I do a compression test I make sure my kids are at school or home, and my hangar doors are closed. Treat a prop like a gun, assume it's loaded.

Treat a prop like a gun, assume it's loaded.

Excellent analogy.

AKJurnee wrote:Treat a prop like a gun, assume it's loaded.

This is good. I need to scrape off some complacency. I was taught during my seaplane training to always lay the keys on the panel where they can be seen. I've forgotten a couple times. Mags were dead, but still, keys were in the ignition.

If Backcountrypilot had some decals printed with an image depicting a loaded gun, and a caution symbol I would buy enough for 30 blades. Fundraiser/safety initiative opportunity? Maybe the image could portray the prop slicing something? Not much into gore, but simple caution signs don't carry enough emphasis to impress participants or bystanders anymore.

I've started carrying an electric boat horn in the airplane, so that I can "honk" at those who seem to get too close to my spinning prop. It has a piercing sound, more like a piezoelectric horn than a typical boat horn.



I've had several incidents over the years in which I had to suddenly try to stop the prop when someone looked like they weren't paying attention as they came toward the airplane. It's darned hard to stop a prop very quickly!

I haven't yet had to use the horn--maybe just having it created the necessary karma, ya think?

Cary

Thanks for the post.

Two things on this issue: First, I never leave the cockpit without placing the keys on the top of the panel. This way, wherever I am around the plane, I can see the keys are out of the ignition and the mags "should" be off.
Second, my story. I had previously owned a 1955 C-170. One January I picked my 170 up from a fresh annual inspection. I did what I thought was a thorough preflight inspection and flew it to my home field. They next day was very cold and, as my dad had taught me, I decided to pull the prop through by hand about six revolutions to loosen things up before flight. He also taught me that every prop was "hot" and should be treated so. I carefully grabbed the prop, to swing through the first revolution, and moved it about six inches and the engine started. Fortunately for me, I had been prepared for the thing that never happens. I raced around to the cockpit, via the wing tip, but by the time I got to the cockpit door the engine stopped ( mixture was full aft). I could not believe what had just happened.
I investigated and found the P lead had been left off the mag, during the annual inspection. This left the engine hot for anyone who may have moved the propeller. Thanks Dad!

First, extremely lucky individual in the first story that all he got was a scar and a scary story. Now for the near disaster I witnessed while in A&P school. The flying club next door had a 150 with a bad starter drive but the president of the club who happened to be one of the A&P students wanted to fly it so he asked the head instructor of the A&P school, George, who was also a club member to prop it for him. Keep in mind that the prop on a 150 is actually to low to be easy to prop. George had quite a bit of experience hand propping, briefed the pilot on how things would go and the call outs and what was expected with each call. So George called for brakes set, pushed on the spinner to verify that they were set, shot of prime, pulled it trough a couple of blades, and called for contact. Now you guested it, the pilot turned the switch past both to start and the one time out of a hundred the starter engaged and the engine started. George, who weight about 160 pounds was standing close enough to the prop that it clipped the tab off the zipper on his leather flight jacket which was zipped half way up. I though that someone was going to die that day as George ran around the strut and jerked the pilot out of the plane. As close as I ever want to see.

Keep in mind that if you are moving the prop on an engine with a magneto with an impulse coupling it is the releasing of the spring that generates the spark, so if the spring is fully wound the prop only has to move far enough to release the spring and the speed at which the prop in moved has no bearing on wither or not a spark is generated.

Tim

Cary wrote: It's darned hard to stop a prop very quickly!
Cary

Unless you fly behind a Rotax, it still makes me think the engine has seized every time I see one turned off.

scottd170 wrote:I never leave the cockpit without placing the keys on the top of the panel. This way, wherever I am around the plane, I can see the keys are out of the ignition and the mags "should" be off.

This is something I do not currently do that I am going to start doing from now on. Thanks!

CamTom12 wrote:

scottd170 wrote:I never leave the cockpit without placing the keys on the top of the panel. This way, wherever I am around the plane, I can see the keys are out of the ignition and the mags "should" be off.

This is something I do not currently do that I am going to start doing from now on. Thanks!

Just keep in mind that even though the keys are out, the prop can still be loaded. I feel that too often people think that because the keys are out, they are safe.
How many of us faithfully do our dead mag checks at the end of every flight? I'll be the first to admit that I slacked in that department. Once I started to work on planes for a living, I now realize how important that check is... thankfully I had a good teacher that taught me to always treat a prop as live.

Glad that the fellow in the OP will just have a scar to remind him of today. Could have been much worse.

Sent from my SM-G870W using Tapatalk

In order to track down a minor oil leak on my Rotax 912, later today I'll be running the engine while sticking my head very close to the engine so I can eyeball things better. The prop will be off the airplane Kinda cool you can do that with the Rotax, also the quick stopping thing. But, it is a very weird sensation, to walk up to the "death zone", and proceed into it. I worry about dogs, especially ones not used to planes, and always keep a sharp eye on them if around.