Cowl Plug Safety

I read about a crash caused when the cowl plugs where left in place. This would be easy to do if distracted during pre-flight. I made mine with a "safety" string attached to each plug and looped over the porp when the plugs are put in place. If accidently left in place when I start the engine it will get my attention... rather than my life.
John Adams

The cowl plugs that Van's sells also have the lanyard to throw them clear with the prop, in addition to the flags on them. Good idea.

Roberta

That idea is why I only use internal gust locks. I can't sit in my seat with them in place and NOT notice them (seat belt around the stick and plastic rudder lock). The seat belt around the stick is ONLY around the pilot stick...NEVER the passenger side.

I use the plugs from Bruce's Custom Covers. They have flags on them and are pretty hard to miss even from the cockpit.

Chris

See from inside plane

I use the cowl plugs from Bruce and like the little flags so I can see them from inside. I also use a gust lock that is inside the plane. I can not sit in the seat without removing it. Only thing I can not see when sitting inside the plane is the pitot cover. I do put it inside the plane when I remove it so I can check it. If the cover is not in the plane then it must still be on the pitot tube.

Complacency..

.....has bitten me too many times. So now I've resolved to do a pre-flight from a card. Silly? Kinda....but then so is taking off with a pitot cover on and breaking the tube off. How 'bout the guy who died after taking off with the seatbelts still around the other stick of his RV?

I was in South Carolina yesterday giving some training in an owner's airplane and he thoroughly used all his checklists from pre-start to pre takeoff...impressive and it taught me a thing or two. Gust locks on airplanes have cause many fatalities over the years.

A good system to avoid complacency and a lackadaisical approach is really very necessary.

Great safety thread BTW,

Regards,

Ron Lee said:

That idea is why I only use internal gust locks. I can't sit in my seat with them in place and NOT notice them (seat belt around the stick and plastic rudder lock). The seat belt around the stick is ONLY around the pilot stick...NEVER the passenger side.

Click to expand...

Ron, how does the plastic rudder lock work? does it fit on the peddles?
John Adams