Ancient Instincts Still Lurking

I spent two years working around EP-3E and P-3C aircraft, which have four big propellers each. I was told from day one to the day I left, by instructors, co-workers, and the voices in my head, as well as the safety posters on the walls and the incident reports that came across the wires and in the safety magazines that you do.not.ever. walk through the propeller arc, even if there is a negative 100% chance of the propeller turning. If the engine is MISSING, you don't go through a prop arc.

Yesterday at the air show, I showed #2 the red line on the side of a B-25 signifying the location of the propeller arc. I told him always to go around the side, because you can't see a spinning propeller, but if you walk into it, it will be like walking into a blender (which is bad for your health). To demonstrate that it could be done, as the plane was on static display with engines still, I

walked
straight
through
a
prop
arc
(!)

Ho-
Lee
SHIT
I am NEVER doing that again. I had never done it before, that I can recall, and that was the last time.

A goose walked over my grave. I got the creeping willies all up and down from the hair on top of my head to the hair between my toes. I have NEVER been as creeped-out as when I walked between the blades of that propeller.

For those who don't know about propeller-driven airplanes, this is a common way for a man to die a nasty death. You never touch a propeller unless you have made it safe by doing the appropriate things you were trained to do - if you were not trained to work on that aircraft, you don't touch the propeller. You never, never, ever, but NEVER should even come close to walking through the space through which a propeller would spin, if it were spinning. EVAR. I did it and I am sorry I did.

Sure it was "safe" to do. So is playing russian roulette with an unloaded revolver. Maybe you'd have to have been an "airedale" to understand.

********

On a related note, it was a bit surreal to look at that plane from a distance. It has a bomb bay for raining death from above, and something like a dozen machine guns from front to back, and there was a stroller parking lot under the starboard wing and a bunch of people milling around just gawking at it.