Hand Starting Piper Saratoga – Single Engine Aircraft
A surgeon from Australia found the battery of his Piper Saratoga – single engine aircraft – dead. He proceeded to hand start the engine by turning the propeller. This is legal. It should be approached with utmost of caution and only used in remote areas where there is no help. The surgeon did not chock the wheels or check the handbrake.
The engine started at about 2000 rpm and the aircraft began taxiing toward the runway on its own. The problem was that there was a twin-engine Seminole (sliced plane in picture) in the way. The pilot after being knocked down by his own plane, while hanging on to the tail of his aircraft trying to stop it, watched in horror as it shredded the tail and body of the Seminole aircraft.
Hundreds of litres of aviation gasoline spewed out of the damaged aircraft. The nightmare of its pilot hanging to the tail ended. University of Adelaide lost one plane and four other aircrafts (freshly painted) could not be used for some time. The pilot was not hurt, but this incident costed the insurance company $1.5 million in claims!
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