DieselDragRacer
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EL CAJON, Calif. -- A pilot died Monday after he was hit in the head by the propeller of a small plane.
The accident happened at about 8:30 a.m. at Gillespie Field, said El Cajon spokeswoman Monica Zech.
The 41-year-old pilot and a passenger began to taxi a single-engine Piper Cherokee plane out to the runway when the engine stalled, Zech said. The pilots got out of the cockpit and apparently tried to restart the engine by manually turning the propeller, but the propeller struck him in the head, she said.
"I was taught the procedure in flight school, and I've done it, but I wouldn't do it anymore," said Joe Graham, a retired airline pilot. "I'd rather get some jumper cables and jump the battery and get it started."
Graham called the procedure, "hand propping."
Pilot Daniel Wisenewski said hand propping is a very dangerous method and sometimes is used to start engine or clear carbonator.
"Most pilots are not trained on prop and most pilots are advised not to hand prop," Wisenewski said.
The man was gravely injured but still alive when he taken by ambulance to Sharp Memorial Hospital, Zech said. He died later at the hospital, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said.
The accident was under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, the FAA and the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration, she said.
According to an online aircraft registration database, the plane is a 4-seat Piper Cherokee PA-28R-200 built in 1974. It is registered to an owner who lives in Lakeside, Calif.
"I saw it happened," recalled one witness who spoke to Fox 5. He didn't want to share his name, but the witness said he saw the victim fall to the ground. "I just stopped. I was like a deer in headlights."
The witness said the passenger in the plane covered the victim's head with a jacket until paramedics arrived.
"I cried because I felt bad for the guy. I cried because I can't get the image out of my head."
The accident happened at about 8:30 a.m. at Gillespie Field, said El Cajon spokeswoman Monica Zech.
The 41-year-old pilot and a passenger began to taxi a single-engine Piper Cherokee plane out to the runway when the engine stalled, Zech said. The pilots got out of the cockpit and apparently tried to restart the engine by manually turning the propeller, but the propeller struck him in the head, she said.
"I was taught the procedure in flight school, and I've done it, but I wouldn't do it anymore," said Joe Graham, a retired airline pilot. "I'd rather get some jumper cables and jump the battery and get it started."
Graham called the procedure, "hand propping."
Pilot Daniel Wisenewski said hand propping is a very dangerous method and sometimes is used to start engine or clear carbonator.
"Most pilots are not trained on prop and most pilots are advised not to hand prop," Wisenewski said.
The man was gravely injured but still alive when he taken by ambulance to Sharp Memorial Hospital, Zech said. He died later at the hospital, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said.
The accident was under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, the FAA and the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration, she said.
According to an online aircraft registration database, the plane is a 4-seat Piper Cherokee PA-28R-200 built in 1974. It is registered to an owner who lives in Lakeside, Calif.
"I saw it happened," recalled one witness who spoke to Fox 5. He didn't want to share his name, but the witness said he saw the victim fall to the ground. "I just stopped. I was like a deer in headlights."
The witness said the passenger in the plane covered the victim's head with a jacket until paramedics arrived.
"I cried because I felt bad for the guy. I cried because I can't get the image out of my head."
