The Van’s RV-8 engine wouldn’t start, so the pilot turned off the switches, set the parking brake, and got out of the cockpit. He rotated the engine by turning the propeller slowly by hand, so the starter would engage.
The engine started unexpectedly, and the airplane moved forward, hitting a hangar and an electrical transformer box at the airport in Columbus, Mississippi.
The airplane was destroyed by the fire, which prevented any examination of the cockpit, brakes, or electrical system.
The accident is consistent with an inadvertent engine start when the pilot rotated the propeller.
Probable Cause: The inadvertent engine start of the unoccupied airplane, which resulted in it moving forward and impacting a hangar and an electrical box.
To download the final report. Click here. This will trigger a PDF download to your device.
This February 2020 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
From the pic, it looks like the left wing impacted the transformer, crushing the fuel tank, and a fire started. If the master was still on.
An electrical short in the wing wiring could easily ignite the leaking fuel.
The pilot must have turned the prop in the direction of rotation and a mag fired. So, the throttle and mixture were not full ‘off’.
I have talked with pilots of experimental aircraft who complained of the starter not being able to rotate the engine o a cold start. It was a high compression IO-360 with a light weight starter and a low capacity battery, which could not supply the current the starter needed to turn the engine past a cylinder on compression.
A properly sized battery and larger gauge wiring would easily supply the 500+ amps that the starter/engine required…
So your theory is the impact was enough to drag the left wing up over the top of the transformer, damaging the fuel tank & sparking the fire. I can see that; his RV-8 had some energy going…and/or that transformer box is shorter than I think.
I think that the left wing smashed into the transformer, maybe breaking it off the airframe. It hard to tell with all the fire damage.
I am concerned that the fuel tank is the leading edge to the front spar, so any damage to the leading edge could cause a fuel leak.
Cessna and others put the fuel tank between the front and rear spars, about 1-1/2 ft back from the leading edge.
I imagine that the RV needed the fuel there wrt the CG. ?
I hope the insurance company does a good investigation on this.
I am tired of old guys getting the blame for increasing insurance rates.
Lost me at “He rotated the engine by turning the propeller slowly by hand so that the starter would engage.”
I’m no Herule Poirot…but check out the pix: How did he wrap the plane, with a 3-bladed prop, around that “electrical transformer box”? Wouldn’t it be in front of the wing…?
Confused on turning prop to engage starter?
Same on engine start with mags off and mixture cutoff.
Same with rolling with brakes set.
Kind of blatantly falsified statements in the report as a CYA. If one believed the report, the parking brake failed and at least one P-lead failed at the same time. Possible, but not likely. I suppose one might need to reposition the prop if he had some stripped teeth on the ring gear. Now we have three squawks on this plane in order for one to believe the NTSB report. I get that it’s Experimental, but was it maintained at all? Or was the report falsified to cover up that he propped the plane without chocks, tying down the tail, or someone at the controls? Somehow I think the latter.
Bottom line, always treat the prop as if the mags are hot. Never pull a prop through with the throttle open. And if you don’t hand prop a plane regularly and know how to do it safely, DON’T!