Runaway Plane Video Scarier By Far Than The Cirrus Debacle

An FAA employee with a movie camera just happened to be on scene when a pilot hand propped a Cessna taildragger with his girlfriend inside and one brake working. What happens next is truly frightening.

Plane & Pilot

Tuesday, September 25, 2018 at 09:08 AM ET

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Key Takeaways:

Hand propping an aircraft is extremely dangerous, especially if no one is in the cockpit to control the plane once the engine starts.
A recent viral video showcased the danger of hand propping a Cirrus, resulting in the aircraft starting and moving unattended.
The inherent risks of hand propping have been documented for decades, as evidenced by a terrifying FAA accident movie from the 1950s.

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By now you’ve doubtless seen the video of a guy hand propping a Cirrus and it starting and, well, there being no one in the Cirrus to keep it from doing what it normally does when the engine starts (apparently at high rpm).

But back in the day—the 1950s by the look of it—the FAA released a movie (I guess they hadn’t yet started up a YouTube account) that showed a hand propping accident that’s truly terrifying. Warning. This is upsetting to watch but everybody survives.