Pilot Lost Control Of The Airplane After Hand-Starting The Engine

It must have been like a scene from a "B" movie, but it was the real thing. Don Poppino told authorities he had started his Cessna 152 with a hand crank about 0830 Tuesday morning, and the airplane took on a life of its own.

File Photo

FloridaToday.com reports that one wing of the 152 was tied down, so it began to pivot before breaking loose and traveling through a fairly busy area at Space Coast Regional Airport near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It traveled about half a mile on the airport grounds before its wings were torn off when it collided with some cement columns at the Bistow Air Center building. The airplane was completely destroyed.

Titusville Fire Department Spokesman Scott Gaenicke told the paper the accident could have been much worse. “Just another couple of feet and it could have gone into the building and created a much bigger mess than we have.” The building has numerous glass windows and doors very close to where the airplane hit the columns.

Poppino suffered only minor cuts and scrapes when the airplane knocked him down. "He’s fine, just a little shaken up,” Gaenicke said. “He’s very upset he lost his aircraft, which is understandable.”

Yes, it is very understandable.

FMI: www.flairport.com