Fatal Injury: hit by the prop

My instructor (a 78-year-old veteran with many thousands of hours) just
climbed out. After my first solo circuit, I was horrified to see him walk
in between the wing and the prop (Cherokee) to tell me through the pilots'
window to make another two circuits. He was very careful, but it still
scared me more than my first solo :-) My personal rule is always to shut
down if there is anyone getting in or out. I've even shut down when someone
was nearby on the ramp and they didn't look like they knew what they were
doing.

There was a ground person killed at Newark last year. She walked up to pull
the chocks so a plane could depart, and just walked into the prop.

When I worked at the Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse a few years ago, the
National Guard brought in a soldier who had walked into the tail rotor of a
helicopter. His face (all the soft tissue) had been sliced cleanly off. An
hour later a jeep arrived with a couple of guardsmen with something wrapped
carefully in a towel. They told the medical staff that someone had found
his face on the ramp and were wondering if the surgeons could re-use it!
Too long without circulation to be viable, but the story sure made the
rounds at the hospital. The guy lived, but required a LOT of reconstructive
surgery.

I'm really obsessive about propeller safety as a result.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)


"Jay Beckman" wrote in message
news:%XaJd.3082$av.2944@fed1read01...
"Larry Dighera" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 23 Jan 2005 19:49:00 GMT, "G.R. Patterson III"
wrote in ::

I'll shut down if I think there's a chance they could get near the prop,
even if
I think they don't intend to do so.

Flight instructors soloing student pilots are faced with this issue.
It would be interesting to know their personal procedure. Do they
leave the student at the controls with the engine running when they
send them on their first solo, or require a re-light? If the former,
it could unintentionally set a poor precedent for students.



Mine made me shut down.

Jay B