A couple of summers ago, I broke out a Byron Sukoi with a ST 90 on board.......Swinging an 18 or 19 inch APC prop ....I doubted it would ever start.....It came to life on about the 3rd or 4th pull.......My friend had the tx...and I was the front-end man......He was holding with his legs...and commenced to run the tiger up....It ran perfectfully......At full throttle..My friend told me to remove the glow starter.
With my left hand ...I stuck it into the prop....Brain Fart.
Well ......it cut off the index about 1/2 inch behind the nail...the thumb was severed at a 45 degree angle from 1/2 inch behind the nail.
It broke the APC prop and stopped the engine.
My fingers were picked up and placed in a sandwich bag, and placed in a cooler....I was transported to ER
$17,000 later and a lot of therapy...I have my fingers back....NUMB, but on my hand.
My Point;
Beginners.......don't become complacent in this hobby...Take nothing for granted....One brain fart can cost you...
It took me a year to ever start and remove my ni starter.
This hobby is dangerous...It must be respected at all times.
If my injury scares the S**t out of just one person it is worth telling what a dummy I was.
I am back flying, and I am ok.....I am a little wiser....I stuck my hand into a lawnmower that was looking me in the face.
Good luck my fellow flyers...be careful
DOC

yeah over at rcu they had a thread similiar to this one and showed this guy;s arm sliced by a saito 180 i think at idle. it was sick, cost him 11,000. another guy had his finger cut off and sewed back on. but the point it be careful! glad to see your alright and flying

I hate you were injured, but thanks for sharing the story with us, If it keeps one person from getting injured you have made a priceless contribution.

I did something similar in 1985, I was a newby back then and stuck my hand into the prop arc to adjust the high speed needle, luckily it was only an Enya .10, but it still removed 3 fingernails.

On a worse note, I had a co-worker walk into a prop arc of a running EP-3 (full sized) and it literally turned his body inside out. That image still haunts me.

When I was on one of the old, old carriers...a brown shirt walked into an A-1E prop.......I will never forget it.....cut him on a 1/4 left arm and head went one way...his body went the other...
We were just pulling into Spain...I will never forget it....Airplanes are the most intreguing thing on this planet.....but they are out to kill you....beware
DOC

Anyways, why are you not wanted at RCU anymore? I do have a lot of ideas of my own. I just thought I would share those. Anyways at our club avenue 12, my old instructor was teaching my friend to fly. He started up a os 46 fx and got a little careless taking the glow starter off and leaned forward and the blade of the prop hit his jacket. Luckily it only ripped his jacket up and not his stomach!

Smallfly,
You were lucky.....The bone and fusion of the bones is the hurting things that come later (Beside the bill)
When my fingers get cold now....I can hardly bear it.....I have been observed putting my crippled fingers in my mouth to warm them....
What we do to enjoy this hobby.
A man that has no imagination has no wings.
Doc

small fly - gald to see you ok now and typing!

Where have you been little buddy.......doing your homework I hope
The Doctor

A guy I talked to said he was tuning a ducted fan engine once, and the guy that was holding the plane looked away for a second, and when he did, he accidentally turned the plane. It was just enough for it to grab to of the guy's fingers and throw then out the back of the plane. Why he didnt have a needle extension on that thing, I'll never know.