Recently a new person asked a question that I replied to and in my reply, I stressed safety when starting and tuning an engine. One point I tried to make was that you start from the front and do everything else from the rear. And, of course, a proper and strong restraint is an absolute necessity.

We have benches at our fields that have vertical 2 X 6's on both sides of the front of the stand that the leading edge of the wing rests against during starting. Unfortunately, this does not help for an engine that may start up backwards, but when they do start backwards, they usually will not accelerate. However, that may not be the case every time.

One of the guys at our club actually wraps a rope around the plane and the rear of the starting stand and holds his plane down that way. With the vertical 2 x 6's and this method of holding the plane down, would probably cover just about every circumstance.

When I was starting out, I got yelled at a few times for standing in that 'danger zone' while playing with the throttle. It became habit for me to just go around the rear of the plane to do anything and everything except starting, including tuning, removing the glow driver, and whatever needs to be done. It's just good sense. And instructors really need to pound this home during training.

Yet another reason for those that think they can be self taught to get an instructor. There is just no way that these self-taught people to get the message without losing a finger or getting a few stitches (at the very least.. or worse). And another reason not to fly alone.

CGr.