The student pilot reported that, while hand-propping the engine at the airport in Batavia, Ohio, the engine started at full power, and the Luscombe 8 jumped over the chocks and began moving in circles.
To stop the airplane, an airport vehicle was driven into the airplane’s tail.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage.
The student reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
The student recommended that better control of the throttle could have prevented the accident.
Probable cause: The student pilot’s use of an improper engine hand-propping procedure, which resulted in the airplane’s unexpected movement.
NTSB Identification: GAA18CA295
This May 2018 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
Safety is no accident situational awareness proper training is the the key to safe operation of any equipment accidents are caused they don’t happen if we go down the road of technology locking us out to make it safe for dummies then we sooner or later condem future generations to further dumbing down a trend I’ve noticed since 1976 now college students can ruin a teacher’s career it they say something offensive
Long comment but i think its relevant. This occurred about 1971-72 involving Luscombe N1144B:
A prominent businessman owned this 8A and kept it at KGSO/Greensboro NC tied down in the grass way out on the east end of the airport past the hangars. Cheaper out there- He decided to go for a ride late that Friday afternoon, drove out to the tiedown and preflighted it. As usual, he pushed in the mixture, primed it, twirled the prop thru a couple of times and then reached in and switched the mags on. He flipped and flipped then realized he’d flooded it somehow. So he said he reached back inside and opened the throttle, closed the mixture, and switched the mags off…..back around the nose and flipped the prop backwards. It suddenly fired!! …um, he THOUGHT he switched off the mags….and it was full throttle! Almost got run over, the lift strut knocked him in the head as it surged past him. This had never happened before! He never had bothered to tie the tailwheel down since it usually just started and ticked over at idle while he’d swing around the strut and climb aboard.
The Luscombe accelerated across the field, bounced into the air and just did clear the airport fence and the power lines above. As it finally ran out of fuel, it sailed out over US 421, over a car and passed in front of a tractor trailer, over the ditch and into a raised railroad embankment on the other side and wiped the gear out. It slid over the tracks and down the other side, coming to rest out of sight at the edge of a farm field with the engine ripped out of its mount and the fuel tank, full of fuel, pulling loose and slamming into the instrument panel. (yes- think about it 8A owners….)
The tower happened to see the Luscombe escape and try to fly away, so they hit the big red button and got the airport fire crew enroute. The truck driver hit the brakes as the Luscombe passed before his eyes, jumped out and ran to the airplane. A crowd gathered, the fire crew showed up, and the truck driver climbed back on top of the tracks, screaming “I can’t find the pilot! I can’t find the pilot!!”
In the meantime the owner, with a knot on his head has had to navigate his way from the tiedown, across the field and somehow get over the fence to the highway, which was quite a hike to an opening. He walked up to the firemen and told them HE was the pilot, and they were, to say the least, very surprised at that admission, but since they couldn’t find the pilot, well, he must be the pilot after all….
We got involved when the owner left the scene, went to Dad’s office at the Beech dealership, and told him he could have the Luscombe if he’d just go get it off the railroad right of way before Norfolk Southern got wind of it. He had no insurance on it and had had enough excitement for one day. So I got a phone call at the house, having just gotten home from school. Get the truck and a toolbox, we have a free airplane to disassemble! Off my brothers and I go, headed over to meet Dad there, and were we surprised! Since the airplane was on the other side of the embankment, nobody on the highway had any idea what had happened- we just needed to get it apart and hauled away before trains came thru and called in what they would have seen.
With the wings apart and loaded up on the top of the station wagon, and the fuselage, the busted gear, and the smashed A65 in the back of the pickup, we were getting ready to leave when all we heard were sirens- police cars every where! We trundled out of the field to the side road to head home and met a road block of NC Highway Patrolmen. Ooops….here we are in the dusk dark hauling great big airplane pieces with nary a red flag or extra lighting of any kind….but we didn’t look like the bank robbers they were looking for, so off we went to the house. Two more roadblocks later and we were home. Nobody cared what we were doing.
We rebuilt it; then it was sold to a new owner. He then crashed it, sadly finishing off the airplane and himself….
Is this the guy that wanted seat belts on motorcycles???
Lets show a little compassion, people. To protect Mr. gb from further embarrassing and repeatedly humiliating himself in public, and for his own good, all in favor of confiscating his keyboard, say “Aye!”.
Lot’s of Good Stuff already mentioned… and btw, if there is anything that should be made illegal (regarding this subject), it’s BAD INSTRUCTION! To that point, just why is an apparently unsupervised student pilot hand propping anything?
Hopefully adding to the list of Good Stuff that can be obtained from this story, is a referral to Mike Busch’s (Savvy Aviation) archived EAA webinar on Batteries. Yes, the airplane should be tied down, but a primary thought might also be asking (if applicable) why is the battery dead, and can the plane be started without doing more damage downstream? One can find his work on EAA.ORG. Search for archived webinars.
Support Good Instructors!
Sure cause: Bad trainning for the student pilot’s use of a forbidden and improper engine hand-propping procedure,. What abou t the low battery that can damage the alternator when started? Bad trainning
Hi Joaquim,
Proper Battery Maintenance itself is important and many are unaware of the best procedures, but also aircraft components and/or instruments powered by the battery have have tolerance expectations for proper performance. Mike Busch explains under what circumstances damage can be experienced.
Webinar- All About Batteries
A discussion on battery types, chemistries, construction, flooded-cell vs. sealed (AGM), charge, discharge, self-discharge, sulfation, when to retire/replace, how to install, instructions for continued airworthiness, battery chargers and conditioners, etc.
A quick check of the EAA site indicates that they now require EAA membership to see the archived videos; not so in the past. Worth the membership? My opinion: yes.
Did the Luscombe have a starter? Without a starter u have to prop the engine, if it does not have a starter his instructor has not fulfilled his obligation to his student to teach him about being safe while hand propping. I have 2 Cubs and a Porterfield that do not have electrical starters. Safety is a must without a starter.
I prop my Champ from behind and have never found reason to even try from the front. With my left hand holding the door frame for stabilization and point of reference, I am hard-pressed to get far enough forward to get into the prop especially if the plane was to lurch ahead.
woebegone student needs instruction and checkout including how to secure airplane, properly set throttle, safe “hand-propping” stance (and if available; a rated safety person in cockpit at brakes and throttle in case of error).
Who’s the sissy that came up with this idea ? If you’re gonna play with airplanes you should be 10% smarter than what you’re messing with
Gbigs is obviously a newbie with no training in hand propping. Done correctly, it’s a perfectly safe procedure, and it’s not hard to do it correctly. With many older airplanes still on the registry which have no electrical systems, making hand propping illegal would ground them. Stupid is as stupid does (or as stupid says).
I agree. In 1951 age 17 I worked for Beechcraft dealer. Pumped a lot of fuel in small planes then propped to start. For the last 21yrs I have flown a 1946 Cessna 140. Over the years I have propped started it When necessary. The 140 is a good aircraft but not for newer pilots who think they know everything. I am 86 and still learning.
Heck, lets make everything that is even remotely dangerous illegal. You aren’t even safe in bed, you might fall out. Houses are dangerous, they could burn down around you or collapse on you. Stoves are dangerous, you could burn yourself. Kitchen knives are dangerous, you might cut yourself. A cat might scratch you. A potted plant could fall on your foot.
There are plenty of airplanes that can ONLY be started by hand propping. Our benevolent protectors should immediately seize and destroy them because they are a danger to the populace. They need to make sure they also get motorcycles, lawn tractors, kitchen knives, scissors, half full bottles of water (oh wait, TSA is already doing that), pets, computer keyboards (you can get viruses on your computer!) and anything else that could possibly harm anyone in the slightest. And make SURE you lock up children, they’re terribly destructive and dangerous.
Of course, we could always train people to hand prop an airplane properly, which when done right, is safe, but that would be FAR to easy and all the self-appointed would-be amateur nannies of the world might have to find other ways to occupy the seemingly excess time they have on their hands.
Thank you. Very well said. I couldn’t agree more with you Mike. As a CFI, I teach my students about the fundamentals of hand propping.
+1
Agreed!
Gbigs “illegal” idea is, sadly, typical of uneducated over reactions to low occurrence events. I fly with cub owners who have hand propped every flight for the last forty years with zero issues.
But, let’s not look at that as a valid stat; just this one student and this one article.
I’m thinking next on gbigs list is landing a plane. We should make that illegal because that sometimes has dangerous implications as well.
You can not outlaw something just because someone somewhere has done something stupid. We cannot dumb down everything to the biggest idiot. We are all examples of how to or how not to, do something.
If you don’t do stupid things while you’re young, you’ll not have anything to smile about when you’re old!
You can not outlaw something just because someone somewhere has done something stupid. We cannot dumb down everything to the biggest idiot. We are all examples of how to or how not to, do something.
If you don’t do stupid things while you’re young, you’ll not have nothing to smile about when you’re old!
FYI: Aircraft Spruce sells a nifty hand propping safety tiedown device. The Pilot Buddy secures the tail while hand propping and the device is then released and retracted by the pilot from within the cockpit. It costs about 40 bucks and is a great investment for those with the need.
I use a chock with a light rope in front of the tail wheel. After the engine starts I climb in real in my chock and taxi
For gbigs,
That’s stupid. I started hand propping planes in 1951 as a helper at a local grass strip and have never had a problem. Greg has the right answer. Be taught properly, never prop without tail tied securely or a qualified person in the cockpit. Verify throttle at idle. Be careful propping Bonanzas. Their prop is fairly low and if you’re not careful, you can feel that you are pulling yourself into the prop. One thing is important to your safety. It doesn’t take much effort to prop most aircraft. Trying to get a lot of heft into it may make you off balance. Using your right leg (on a standard rotational direction prop) as a mass to swing back away from the a/c can make you feel better.
Nonsense as usual.
Richard is correct. I hand propped a Bonanza once. Decided it was to dangerous for me.
Bill you show a large lack of knowledge when it comes to aviation
Well spoken, Richard! I’ve been hand-propping for over 70 years, even caught my hand in one when it flooded and I called “Off & Open” to my friend in the cockpit (we took turns) and he turned the mag switch to only one mag. My wide variety of hand-prop A\Cs represent only a minor percentage of my 34,000 hours but a much larger percent of the fun. Cheers!
Solo hand propping by a student, this falls on the instructor. The aircraft should have the tail tied down or a good parking brake set, not relying solely on chocks. With a student there should be a qualified operator at the controls when starting. The FAA does not require anyone at the controls, however many state air regulations do. The FAA could cite this pilot under CFR 14, 91.13 careless and reckless operation, for not having it under control.
Driving should be illegal, a driver was speeding through a neighborhood and hit a tree, the tree died. There you go!
Making hand-propping illegal? Nonsense. This accident was caused by carelessness or poor instruction. Never use chocks to keep your airplane from escaping while hand propping whenever you are alone. Any instructor who teaches you to use chocks while hand propping is wrong and inexperienced. Go to the hardware store and buy a rope to keep in your baggage compartment. It weighs nothing and is cheap. Tie your tailwheel down with two half hitches at both ends to the nearest tie down, fencepost, whatever. If you don’t believe what a good idea this is, chock your Luscombe and then add full power. What happens? If you aren’t in it, your Luscombe will probably go on its merry way. If you tie the tailwheel down and add full power, what happens? Nothing, except that you look and feel stupid if you have accidently left the throttle open. It takes no more time to tie the tailwheel down as it does to chock your airplane. By the way, who thinks that walking around an airplane to remove a set of chocks is a good idea while the engine is running? At least half the folks I see do that walk around the front of the engine with prop spinning a few feet from them? If you are absentminded enough to leave the throttle forward while propping, are you sharp enough not to accidentally back into the prop also? Common folks! If you can afford a set of chocks, you can also afford a tiedown rope to keep you and your airplane safe.
Hand propping should be illegal. Manufacturers should design technology that prevents it.
You do realize there are planes with no other way to start them except hand propping?
He’s new at this, that’s the only explanation.
Make it illegal, more regulation…..that will fix everything!
Make student pilots illegal
I’d be happy to upgrade my no-electric Cub if Gbigs will pay for it.
++1
Amen, Dwayne. Ray, Dale, and Amy. I have ben hand propping airplanes since 1953. Recently quit because of age. I don’t hand prop an airplane with a nose wheel just because the prop is so low, I feel real uncomfortable doing it. No excuse for not having the plane tied down and/or someone who knows how to hold the brakes and which way to move the throttle to close it if it is partially open when the engine starts in the cockpit. Of course, with a Cub with the swing down door, it’s easy to prop from behind and reach through the door to handle the throttle. A Cub on floats has to be started from behind the prop.
There are a lot of classic planes without starters that hand prop with each flight. Starting a plane with tricycle gear and a dead battery is indeed more dangerous, but like anything else in aviation, common sense and good training can make a risk manageable. There is nothing more or less safe about it than all the accidents we have with planes taxiing into buildings and other planes. Following good practices, which this pilot didn’t do, is always going to lessen problems. My plane has a throttle guard, parking brake and chocks. Never had a problem with it starting with more than 600 rpm at idle after pulling the prop through in 35 years of propping it for each flight. Respect the prop. You can’t design out being brain dead or rushing through a checklist.
Since the Ercoupe came out I’ve tried never to fly a nose-wheeled aeroplane unless I was being paid, it takes much of the fun out of flying!
You have made two distinctly different and unrelated statements. Manufacturers don’t decide what is legal or not. Lets think about how this great idea of yours would be implemented? Do you require someone to be seated in the pilots seat to start the aircraft? That adds significant cost and weight to the aircraft. What do you do about the fact that 99 % of GA light piston aircraft aren’t new? Are suggesting that owners of used aircraft spend their time and money retrofitting their aircraft because of a few select morons? Of course training people to hand properly hand prop aircraft is asking too much instead you want to ruin it for everyone because of a few select dummies. It has been my experience as an Engineer that when you attempt to idiot proof a product along comes an improved idiot.
Robert Heinlein: The reason that we can’t make things foolproof is because fools are so ingenious.
Why don’t you just stay at home. Anybody with as little common sense as saying make hand propping illegal has zero business operating any kind of equipment. Mush less an airplane.
Gbigs …..please do not own, rent, borrow or fly any aircraft….your comement scares the weejillies out of me….
Just what are weejillies?