Originally Posted by
megan
FP, the illustration and procedural text you posted is the exact word for word copy of what was posted previously, even down to the serial number and issue date. Pity the site where we got the info from didn't attribute its source, New Zealand National Airways Corporation...
Quite, although to be fair to that site I'm not entirely sure that NAC hadn't copied their procedure from another operator's manual (without attribution). I suppose it may even have been part of official documentation from Douglas; I once had the complete set (de Douglas) but haven't seen the box in a long time, maybe someone else will turn up with earlier detail.
Thanks for posting that other link, I am interested in the efficacy and advisability of rope starting from the prop boss/spinner as described in the Land Rover scene. As I see it having a sock on the prop tip is reasonable (and would appear to be an approved SOP in some cases), and you'd expect it to fly off and out of the way if/when the engine started (if it hadn't already), however I see at least three issues with the boss rope:
(1) unless you're very careful and get the rope exactly orthogonal to the boss (and have a very straight boss) it will either pull off, or become entangled with the blades
(2) if you're unlucky the rope could become entangled with the blades if the engine started and said rope wasn't out of the way in time, oh la la!
(3) while it's been some time since I worked on a DC3 I don't remember the boss being all that strong, it seems to me that miss-application of force on the rope could damage it quite easily?
Mach E Avelli clearly has similar thoughts (and yes, I agree they could be a chore to get going at times!).
Thus It'd be good to hear from someone that's actually done a boss rope start, if they're still here to tell the tale...
FP.