Scattered among accident reports is the occasional hand prop attempt that goes wrong but not many concern high-performance aircraft. The accompanying video illustrates that it is indeed possible to spark up a Cirrus SR22’s IO-550 from the front but it needs to be done with an abundance of forethought and caution. It’s not clear who shot the video but it was posted by What You Haven’t Seen.
The NTSB, which is not investigating the incident itself, confirms the unfortunate chain of events occurred on Sept. 8 at Mason City Municipal Airport in Iowa. The plane, a 2005 model, is registered to a crop insurance company in Iowa. It would appear the power was set too high and the aircraft wasn’t chocked or otherwise restrained. Also, the prop blast closed the pilot side door, delaying the pilot’s possibly ill-advised attempt to kill the engine and regain control of the aircraft. After running about 100 yards across a taxiway, with the pilot hanging off the left wing for much of the way, the aircraft crashed into the corner of an open hangar and was heavily damaged. There were no reports of injuries.
