ETLB Squawk Forums — Archive

Hi
Nearly done with my flat top Max build and now that it is on gear, wings are on, engine completely hung, a pretend prop bolted on, and I walked through the process of what hand propping is going to be like and I discovered that my ergonomically perfect left side wall mounted throttle quadrant is nearly impossible to reach when standing behind the prop in front of the wing, and you can't be safely doing regular hand propping without easy access to the throttle.  I DID NOT SEE THIS COMING UNTIL WING/ENGINE/PROP WERE IN PLACE!!!!! And I spent a lot of time evaluating the few locations that work at all for a throttle in a Max cockpit before selecting the one I did, and it is so comfortable I was pleased.  I guess I failed to realize how far forward of the cockpit the wing is which makes getting an arm into the cockpit while standing in front of the wing, quite challenging.  Now, after the fact, I need to relocate "something" for a throttle, and route it through the closed firewall set up, and as most of you know, it is a b____ to get in under the tank and route things.  I would welcome all comments and/or pictures you folks might have on this subject, I am somewhat glad that my Culver Prop has been delayed as I would be addressing this problem even if it arrived.  Thanks
Kim Brown

Actually I just went downstairs and studied my dilemma some more and fashioned an extension for the throttle quadrant with an arm at the top so now the throttle has a ball grip in its original place to use when flying and an extension and ninety degree second arm which goes up high enough that I can reach it while standing in the hand propping position.  So I think I can fashion a new throttle arm neatly incorporating both grips, one for use in the cockpit, one for use in hand propping.  Looks just a bit weird but not too bad.  While solving this issue, I noticed that I also cannot reach the choke cable control knob while in the Mini Max hand propping location, so it too has to be rerouted in some manner.  I'm thinking about rerouting it to the outside of the firewall, after all, I'll be standing right there, I could reach the choke by hand but it rotates freely and needs the cable control to keep it shut when you don't want it.  I hope I don't encounter too many more of these surprises.
Kim Brown  

When i prop my vw i just open the throttle a hair (so she will run at 1200rpm), chock the wheels snd give her a flip from in front. After she starts and runs for a minute i idle her back, pull my chocks, and get in. No need for any fancy throtyle locations or extensions.

Chris

Quoted from BlueMax When i prop my vw i just open the throttle a hair (so she will run at 1200rpm), chock the wheels snd give her a flip from in front. After she starts and runs for a minute i idle her back, pull my chocks, and get in. No need for any fancy throtyle locations or extensions.

Chris

That method will work every time....except for the one time it doesn't!  Best practice would have the tail tied down securely, too.  A lady I know hand propped her Champ with the tail tied down.  The engine started and went to full throttle and the old frayed rope broke and the Champ took off by itself until the tree got in the way.

Once my Airbike has started I jump in the seat and apply the Fred Flintstone brakes.

Charlie,
I use big ol' rubber wheel chocks, they hold just fine during full power engine runups, she will flip over on her nose before she ever jumps one.

When i am away from my airport if no one is around to assist i use a velcro strap to tie the lever for the band brakes back against the stick. Not the best but netter than nothing.

Chris

I've had one prop "episode" and it was enough to scare me into conservative behavior, I was hand propping a Continental, flooded it, and had my wife in the cockpit properly shut the switch off, go to full throttle, and then I did ten or so reverse direction hand props.  The deadly omission is to forget to tell the cockpit person to pull throttle back to idle before going hot and turning the prop over.  I forgot.  I had the tail roped carefully to my garage when the engine redlined and my wife had the good sense to shut it off but it was frigging scary.  I had no wings on that plane at the time and it could even have rolled over.  I had one other episode with an engine on a test stand and the test stand failed while at a fairly high rpm and another guy and I both got scraped up pretty well, from the stand not the prop, but as the engine went flying down my driveway as it ate the prop, I was shaken up to say the least.  So I would rather now be the "pussy" about working around props even though there is somewhat of a satisfying factor about the procedure.
Kim Brown

I have rerouted the choke cable to the firewall inches from where I stand when hand propping from the rear of the prop, pretty handy actually, as I mostly will always be by myself

That kind of scary story is exactly why I like my electric starter motor... glad you made it out of that okay!