Anthony On Aviation: March 2014

	FAA Safety Team \| Safer Skies Through Education
You have asked us to notify you when a seminar is scheduled that meets your criteria. The following seminar may be of interest to you: "Accident Case Study: Live" Topic: Accident Case Study: Live seminar On Tuesday, April 8, 2014 at 7:00 PM Location: Southern Museum of Flight 4343 73rd Street North Birmingham, AL 35206 Select Number: NR0353997 Description: To the average person, it might seem a bit morbid that pilots pay so much attention to aircraft accidents. After all, when was the last time you saw an article about an accident in a car magazine? But flying isn’t like driving, and accidents deserve attention: They let us learn from others’ mistakes, help us think critically about our skills, and provide a mental “nudge” if we find ourselves in similar situations. With that in mind, the Air Safety Institute’s new seminar, Accident Case Study: Live, aims to put a new spin on safety-oriented accident analysis. Working with several compelling real-life cases, presenter and audience will play the role of accident investigator—starting at the crash scene and working backwards through physical evidence, eyewitness testimony, and other leads to figure out exactly what went wrong, and why. To view further details and registration information for this seminar, click here. The sponsor for this seminar is: AOPA Foundation The FAA Safety Team (FAASTeam) is committed to providing equal access to this meeting/event for all participants. If you need alternative formats or services because of a disability, please communicate your request as soon as possible with the person in the 'Contact Information' area of the meeting/event notice. Note that two weeks is usually required to arrange services. The following credit(s) are available for the WINGS/AMT Programs: Basic Knowledge 3 - 1 Credit

It started out at the self-service Avgas pump.

A guy fueled his Cherokee, but knew he had a dead battery. Pushed the plane back, hopped in, primed the engine, left the throttle half open, mags on, and got back out.
Gave the prop a swift swing, and the engine fired right up. Right up to around 1800 rpm I guess.
The plane took off, straight for the fuel farm.

Fortunately, the prop hit this concrete filled steel post, designed for this very situation: to keep idiots from running into the fuel tanks.

Here's what happened next: Prop hit the post, and the crankshaft sheared right off the engine sending the prop, hub and spinner flying like you only see in cartoons, landing on the roof of a hangar, about 150 yards away.

Here it is:

Aftermath:

And no, this did not buff right out. Plane was sold for $400 on the spot, parted out and sold on eBay.

With today's medical expertise and knowledge, we can fix a lot of things. Stupid is not one of them. Guy had no insurance, and was under scrutiny of the FAA for running another plane out of fuel, and landing it on highway 41 in Ft Myers I believe. He should just quit flying all together..