Thrown Prop Blade-WARNING VERY GRAPHIC

[Andy Greene]

Saw this over on Scream and Fly- SCARY !!!!! I have often wondered if it could happen in the hot pits with one of our boats, but to get drilled with a full sized chopper blade in the face- WOW . VERY VERY lucky to be alive.

 

[Andy Greene]

Here's his story -

I am the one that got hit. Transomstand is right, last week I was fiddlin with water pressure issues and this week Im just trying to get back to eating something good instead of through a straw. I got extremely lucky as an inch any other direction and wouldve lost sight, hearing, smell, or my whole neck. Heres an explanation I typed up on another site.

We were down in Lafitte, for byuboyz spring bling. Me and Rex had made a few passes and had turned around at the finish line talking to Gman, bay area etc. I asked him if he wanted to make another pass before heading in and he agreed. Gman took off followed by Rex and myself and Nick. Bout the time the boat planed over I saw something out of the corner of my eye and got hit in the face. Looked down and saw the blade sitting in my lap. I grabbed the side of my face and was covered in blood. I looked over at bay area and his jaw dropped and jumped out of his seat hollering at me. Thats when I knew it was really bad so I stomped on the gas and drove over to the landing. Got taken care of pretty quick and the ambulance was there before long. We were right in front of the landing so luckily it wasn't far and there were a couple cops running radar for the boats so they had called by the time I got there. I took pics of Rex cav plate I'll post. The blade broke off, stuck in the left side then the other blades must've knocked it out and up in the air towards me. It's a worked 28 mazco 3 blade.

It went all the way through in a couple spots and cut through the left side of my lip. Its 4 layers of sutures from bottom to top and took about 2 hrs to do. No broken bones or missing teeth though one of them is a little loose and has moved because it hits when I bite down. He was in the STV and I was in the Triad. Werent taking off hard either just taking off to go back to the starting line. If itd wouldve been full throttle couldve been alot worse and if it hadnt hit the cav plate and been a direct hit it wouldve been worse.

 

[JeremyEdge]

Wow he is lucky for sure.Anything could happen when things are spinning at a high revolution.

 

[Beau Parsons]

Holy Crap that look like it hurts like hell, ouch, Cheeks are repairable eyeballs are not. Lucky is right. I think we all forget about the risk/reward of boating. Bad things sadly do happen even with all the safety measures we all try to uphold. Hope that heals with little scaring.

Beau

 

[Andy Greene]

 

[Grimracer]

Chicks love scars............................ But they alos like Men that have a beating heart.... that dude is very LUCKY!

Grim

 

[Don Ferrette]

Chicks love scars............................

Actually it's - "pain heals, chicks dig scars, glory... lasts forever" Shane Falco- The Replacements. Cool flick.

 

[jeepers]

WHOA..... that guy is very lucky!

 

[Kevin Krogness]

Ouch hes lucky to be here to tell the story...

 

[brandonclan]

HOLY *#@!

OUCH!!!

Truly mindboggling how fast lifes priorities change!

Very lucky dude.

 

[moparbarn]

very lucky man, to say the least. i have thrown a blade on a full size bass boat before. thank the lord it was on a weekday & i was lost & gone in a back water creek down near apalachacola, fl. blade went almost straight up, took a chunk of the cavitation plate out, then walked up the right cowling half on my 150 merc. clean slices all the way through the cowl, about 5 of them, 2 to 3" apart. don't have a clue where it came down, just glad i was nowhere another person. it was an old "hooter" 3 blade thru hub prop, known for blade throwing, as i later found out. boy that was a LONG, ROUGH idle back upriver to the landing. about 8 miles, took 3 hours.......

 

[hugh hargett]

Man while you speaking about eyes be happy YOU LIVING. Man seems like someone should be having to pay you. Thats really terrible what it did to you.Hope the Dr's get you fixed up.

You need to sue that prop manufacturer IM sorry yall that dont make no sense the damage that thing did to this man.

Where the prop is broken it looks cast. I sure as hell hope not. that **** should be forged or either machined.BUT NOT cast. Maybe that just how it looks

hey brother if he needs anything hit me up. dont know how I can help but Butch Williams the duke lacross scandal laywer is a buddy of mine. If you want to take some legal action tell hime to get up with me. Im serious. this is a very serious injury thats not supposed to happen imagine if it hit one of your kids or something while just out pleasure cruising. My dads owned several boats(hes from new bern NC) been around boats all my life that **** is just rediculous. Sorry for the language but i feel strongly that this man should and has to be compensated. thats some poor ass engineering i dont care what anyone says. That thing should be able to withstand 3 to 4 times what it would ever see.This just makes no sense.

I dont like this at all and i know your lady is mad as hell too. F that you go see whats up on getting you some cash for this one you deserve it point blank. Dont be nice about it either. You tell me what jury would see your face and deny you? Thats major trauma and later on down the road may bother you quite a bit.

 

[Andy Greene]

Your amazing dude, does it ever end :blink:

Once again- Time stamp- Just sayin

 

[Tom Foley]

Your amazing dude, does it ever end :blink:

Once again- Time stamp- Just sayin

Unreal..sue the prop manufacturer????????? ...........because it was their fault that the highly modified prop with a thousand passes on it broke and they were too close , not wearing safety gear etc ....................................... :blink:

S..t happens when you play race boats and it's not always someone elses fault or negligence.....

 

[crfabbro1]

Man while you speaking about eyes be happy YOU LIVING. Man seems like someone should be having to pay you. Thats really terrible what it did to you.Hope the Dr's get you fixed up.

You need to sue that prop manufacturer IM sorry yall that dont make no sense the damage that thing did to this man.

Where the prop is broken it looks cast. I sure as hell hope not. that **** should be forged or either machined.BUT NOT cast. Maybe that just how it looks

hey brother if he needs anything hit me up. dont know how I can help but Butch Williams the duke lacross scandal laywer is a buddy of mine. If you want to take some legal action tell hime to get up with me. Im serious. this is a very serious injury thats not supposed to happen imagine if it hit one of your kids or something while just out pleasure cruising. My dads owned several boats(hes from new bern NC) been around boats all my life that **** is just rediculous. Sorry for the language but i feel strongly that this man should and has to be compensated. thats some poor ass engineering i dont care what anyone says. That thing should be able to withstand 3 to 4 times what it would ever see.This just makes no sense.

I dont like this at all and i know your lady is mad as hell too. F that you go see whats up on getting you some cash for this one you deserve it point blank. Dont be nice about it either. You tell me what jury would see your face and deny you? Thats major trauma and later on down the road may bother you quite a bit.

Casting is the standard method for making propellers. As being someone involved in full size boat racing for 30+ years thrown

propeller blades is quite common, especially when modified / thinned ect...

 

[shoboat]

Chris,

I think the same thing as you.

I am thinking about a disclaimer sheet to add in with my orders.

This is a very legal world these days, I don't think you can trust

many lawyers today, look at Congress.

Thanks,

Mark Sholund

 

[Mark Leyde]

Sue the prop manufacturer? Really???? It was a performance propeller on a race boat. Where the hell was the guys helmet. My wife would have shot me if I ever got in one of my race boats without my safety gear on.

 

[hugh hargett]

Look at that mans face point blank if he was too close someone should have said step back. We have rules in rc boating to prevent this stuff so maybe they should too. I would required signing a disclaimer if my props consistently throw blades. I didnt say it, it was implied by the statement. In a case like this Id care less about the company and more about my face YOU would too if it were your face torn up like that. They have insurance make a claim in his sake then as a way to say were really sorry for you troubles.

A baseball player hits a foul tip that smashes a newborn in the face. The player is not liable in anyway but as a human does he go and apologize and give assistance to the familiy anyway or does he say "this is what happens in ball games so sorry" you make the call but be sure its YOUR newborn you are talking about. For me the human first approach would be to offer apologies and assistance if needed. If you care only about dollars then go into the bit about disclaimers. I say build a better prop. If the industry hasnt seen the need for a new manufacturing process that makes props more reliable after 30 years of throwing blades well thats so sad. What I dont know I dont need too if this is what can happen just watching a boat go. Never once have a seen a prop look like that unless it hit something daddys from newbern, we personally owned 5 boats and consistently fish. 30 plus years of cruising the marinas and morehead,beaufort,nagshead,wilmington, not once have I seen a prop like that strictly from running..

He was naive for not wearing the helmet I will give you that. but it was no guarantee that he still wouldnt recieved injury if its common then no one should be within 100 yards of the thing.

Congressmen love disclaimers and bs like that. Anything to not have to be responsible and stand behind what you make thats how they do it. Zero accountability - The staus quo.

Anyway just my opinion no need to witchhunt

 

[Tom Foley]

In our hobby ,Real high performance boats , props break all the time , particularly when used in Drag Racing . They also break from just running as these boats are operating in a surfacing manner at higher RPM which is very hard on props . Most times only engine damage occurs , not human trauma such as this . A friend lost a blade( prop ) at over 10,000 rpm at 126 mph and it broke the propshaft and rode up through the cav plate hitting the midsection . Happens all the time , I've got several here in my office I'll sell you for metallurigal testing .

 

[Andy Greene]

I've got several here in my office I'll sell you for metallurigal testing .

Sr. I'm sure your mistaken as your hands shake far too much for anything other than- well KT knows, plus from what I read - you have never run fast enough to break a sweat- let alone toss an ear on a performance prop :huh:

Hugh - what can I say man, you amaze me once again with your mindless drivel that seems to ooze from your mouth with such majestic flow with every post made, its an art I guess :mellow:

Andy