This is a picture of hsimmons arm. I took the picture for him.
Surgery , Rehab, Nerve damage
Details to follow!

Some bactine and a band-aid and you'll be as good as new!!!!![X(] Damn that had to hurt a bit and thanks for showing us once again what these so called toy engines can do if we get complacent around them. Good luck on the rehab and pray that you get a full recovery.

How did this happen?

Started rehab a few days ago. Two months before I have full use of the hand. Twelve months before nerve completely regenerates.

An O.S. 1.60 spinning a 17x12 inch prop is like a buzz saw.

This is the direct result of my not following the basic safety practice of having a large aircraft secured when starting it. I placed the transmitter on my left hand side (second mistake because I'm right handed). Started the plane and then accidentally hit the throttle stick when I reached for the transmitter. Motor accelerated and plane came straight at me before I could move out of the way.

As you can see by the photos it really did a number on my arm.

We had a similar incident last week. Below is a Safety Breif that is being distributed. Hopr it helps.
The intent of this Safety Brief is to make everyone aware of a serious injury that occurred last week at the flying field and to notify all members of a change in flight line rules.

Incident
Last week one of our members was very seriously cut while starting a ¼ scale plane. I believe the engine was a 1.40 4-stroke. Paramedics responded to the scene and took him to the hospital where he received 32 stitches between his wrist and elbow. He was released from the hospital later that day and is currently recovering.

The person injured will review the incident in detail at the next club meeting.

Key Learnings
1. No hold-down was used to restrain the large airplane.
2. The radio was not on, therefore the engine could not be remotely shut off. He indicated that he did not think the engine would start, hence he did not turn on the radio.
3. The address for the field was not known. Delayed paramedics response.

The following corrective actions were reviewed and approved by the club officers and will be incorporated into the next revision of the bi-laws.

Immediate Corrective Actions
a. Effective immediately, mechanical hold-down / restraint is required for all aircraft.
b. Effective immediately, all engines must have remote shut-off capability. Some radios have a shut-off button. Throttle trim can also be used.
c. Signs that have the field address will be place near the runway and under the pavilion.

Should there be any questions, please contact me.

John Shaffer, Safety Officer
AMA 196

I'm happy to see that steps have been taken immediately to prevent this from happening again.

My rehab is coming along slowly. However, I am making progress. Just know that these safety rules will prevent a serious injury like the one that happened to me. Trust me, it will happen so fast you will not be abe to react in time to prevent it.

I had a very similiar instance a couple of weeks ago. Mine was with a Webra 50 powered Ultra Stick 40. Again, an unsecured plane, on one knee while starting. I reached for the Tx and hit the throttle as you did. The plane shot forward and the prop hit my left knee. I am very fortunate in that all I got was a bad bruise out of the deal ( I was wearing jeans at the time ). Very little damage on my part, but it was enough to scare the crap out of me.

We all get complacent at times, some pay a higher price for it than others.

I wish you a full and speedy recovery.

Dave

hsimmons, i just started flying my first giant scale. learned its a rascal to get started. i made a electric starter. in the process i decided to make a positive hold down that is working terrific for me while i start my big bingo by myself. it locks the front wheels in place while im starting and cant be released untill i go to the rear of the plane. if your interested i can shoot a photo of the hold down and email it to you. you will see in the photo that its very simple to make and takes the fear out of that 22 inch prop spinning in front of me

hsimmons et al,
The same thing happened to me but with a smaller engine, a Saito .56. 16 stitches (6 through the fingernail) on two fingers.

My accident happened the same way (accidentally hit the throttle) but my plane WAS in a tie-down...

My mistake was that there was room for the plane to come about 6" foreward, and that's what hit me.

Just a word to the wise... don't be complacent just because you have your plane tied down or in a 'stooge'.... make sure that the plane is as far forward as it will go BEFORE you start that engine, so that it doesn't jump those remaining few inches at you...

I know that it sounds fundamental, but that was the one and only time that I didn't check, and look what happened... Just something for you to watch out for, for yourself and for your flying buddy...

Hopefully, I added something meaningful to the discussion.

Bob

hsimmons ..
I'll pray with you for a full recovery.
Your right - things like that happen so fast that you're cut and bleeding before you're even aware that you got in the prop.

And it doen't have to be a large engine ether. About a week or so ago, I got a chunk sliced out of my left index finger by - of all things - my little electric SuperFly.

I will respect ALL spinning props from now-on.

The president of my club only flys electrics. It seems that they are much worse than glow engines for the simple reason that they do not stop. When a glow engine gets tangled with your digits, it generally stops. In most cases that is also true for gasoline. However, when an electric hits you the spinning does not stop until the electromotive force is removed. That means speed control shut down or battery pulled. Think about it for a moment, there it is slicing away at you...

Sometimes it takes a good thrashing I know, really speaking it was a lucky event...youll recover and be left with a REAL appreciation of the dangers, aversion therapy is pretty effective teacher
get well soon

hsimmons
i wish you a quick recovers,those lessons are very hard learned.
good luck.

do a search on here for pics of electric cuts... nasty stuff... as the others mentioned, electric doesn't stop. most electric cuts are 8+ individual slices. into the skin. also, electric props are usually quite a bit thinner since they don't have to withstand starting or an IC engine firing, they also slice better.

You might also include directions from the nearest EMS or fire station, along with the flying site's GPS coordinates.

For safety info, at our field, we have a laminated page with phone numbers, directions to the field, and its' Lat/Long for med flights (we had an individual have a heart attack at one time).

The lettering is as large as possible to make it easy to read, and the cost to laminate it was about $1 at Staples.

Just tossing in my $.02

Bob