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ORIGINAL: byop

The exact same thing happened to us with an old Mcoy .35 red head. It was attached to a board in the same manner and clamped to a picnic table. It took off and hit an air compressor leaving a hudge dent. Very close call. Lesson learned !

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Dana Waring, one of the test engineers who made a
career at Pratt & Whitney, remembers a spectacular
crankshaft failure. Waring was observing an engine
running at full power in the test cell. It was outfitted
with a metal flight propeller that, in conjunction with
the short exhaust stacks, was making a huge amount
of noise. In the blink of an eye, and with a loud bang,
the engine rotated 180 degrees in its test stand
fixture, tore loose from its mounts and came to rest
on the test cell floor, leaking oil and smoking. In the
mean time, the propeller had sheared off and flown
forward to the front of the test cell, knocking a dent in
the concrete wall. The propeller hovered there for a
few revolutions until it lost some momentum, and
then slid to the floor, still rotating. When the propeller
blades began hitting the floor, the entire propeller
began walking around the forward end of the test cell
until it used up its remaining momentum and came to
rest. Dana Waring was thereafter very reluctant to
enter the test cell while an engine was running.

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