A guy fueled his Cherokee, knowing that he had a dead battery. He pushed back the plane, jumped in, primed the engine, left the throttle half open, mags on, and got out.
He gave the prop a swift swing and the engine fired right up; right up to around 1,800 RPM. The plane shot straight for the fuel farm. Fortunately, the prop hit a concrete filled steel post, designed to keep idiots from running into the fuel tanks.
After the prop hit the post, the crankshaft sheared from the engine, sending the prop, hub, and spinner flying like you only see in cartoons. It landed on a hangar roof about 150 yards away. Fortunately, no one was struck by the flying prop.
The damage did not buff out easily.
The 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, but Stupid is not one of them. The “pilot” had no insurance, and was under FAA scrutiny because he previously had a fuel exhaustion incident in another plane. He landed that one on Highway 41 in Ft Myers, FL.
Perhaps he should just quit flying all together.
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