Oh brother...
Don't just run out and try it.
What he said.
We had a guy hand-propping his 206. Ground was icy. He came too lying on his back under the airplane - head toward the nose and feet toward the tail. His head was in line with the prop -- the engine was idling. Luckily he had the presence of mind not to raise up and was able to scoot out from under the prop and call for help. He had a big lac on the back of his head -- we surmise that he swung the prop and slipped and fell hitting his head.
Another lucky guy was propping and got hit in the head by the prop. All he got was a head lac.
Another guy was propping his 180 on skis. It got away from him and starting running in circles on the lake getting faster with each circle and each circle getting bigger. His airplane finally hit the lakeshort where it destroyed a set of floats and badly damaged a pickup. The floats and pickup were his also.
A 185 fresh out of a total makeover got handpropped, got away and went full throttle across the road lifting off just before it hit the big state maintenance building. Back to the shop for that one.
There has been more than one airplane that got away from the pilot and took off on it's own.
Best bet is do good maintenance.
I also know a guy that stepped out onto the float of his 180 as he beached in a remote lake, engine running. The float touched bottom, he lurched forward and stuck a hand in the prop losing all but the thumb and index finger. Now get this -- he's a doctor -- he got back in the airplane, grabbed his med kit and numbed the hand up so he could fly back to town. He figured he had to go right now because he likely wouldn't be able to go later due to pain, etc. Tough guy.
