Quote Originally Posted by lnuss View Post
Don't point that thing at me! And you'd not be welcome on my range with that attitude. The NRA's three safety rules are:


  1. ALWAYS keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.
  2. ALWAYS keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot.
  3. ALWAYS keep the gun unloaded until ready to use.


I bring this up because it's also a good attitude with that meat cleaver on an aircraft. Any one of them can keep you safe IF there are NO mistakes made by imperfect humans, but we all make mistakes at one time or another, no matter how hard we try, since we are not perfect. But if you follow #1, a mistake with #2 or #3 can't hurt you. You actually have three practices that almost completely eliminate the chance of a serious mistake. But they ALL take practice, especially the first one. For some things it might not matter, but with the potential consequences of a mistake in this area the belt and suspenders approach can be a life saver.

The same is true of avoiding the prop arc. Sure, there are certain situations where you might not be able to avoid that prop arc, but they should be rare, and faithfully practicing that avoidance should (hopefully) come to make you uncomfortable getting into that arc. This is NOT saying that the other practices shouldn't be followed, just that staying out of that arc is akin to rule #1 above.
So you never look down the barrel of a gun when you are cleaning it? Its broken down. You do not get it.

Do not use a switch to kill the engine and no way to make a mistake. Why just why would you shut off your airplane engine with a switch? No good practice at all. Make the engine die and it will not bit you or anyone else who might happen to walk up and lean on said prop. I go into my hangar all the time and find the prop moved. Now do not say people should not be moving my prop. Its being done by an A&P who keeps moving things around. Then leaves my wooden prop in the 12-6 position but this is another story.

Tony