First of all, thanks for posting these two videos. It's great to watch the pattern from someone else's point of view and to see how they do certain maneuvers. Thank you.
Now for a safety moment. Every morning at work, my group has a "safety awareness moment" where we are encouraged to bring up anything safety related and discuss ways to avoid serious injury. Slips, trips, falls, unsafe driving practices, senior moments, there are no out of bounds. Some of us actually admit to doing something stupid and getting hurt while doing it. Rather self incriminating, but it helps to increase everyone else's awareness and if it can stop one of your friends from getting hurt, well, it's worth it.
When I first watched your videos I actually cringed. I am in instructor at our local R/C field and the thing I yell at my students the most about is removing the glow plug battery while reaching around the prop. Both of you guys did exactly that after starting your planes. I know I'm probably going to get flamed, and that's OK if I can save one person from getting seriously injured. We've all seen enough pictures of what these props can do to human flesh, it's not pretty. When you think of how many vital parts are running through your arm and wrist, such as arteries, ligaments and tendons, well the chance for a serious injury is something that we can't take lightly.
In your second video at the 4 to 5 second mark, your arm is so close to the prop, it's scary. I tried to pause the video at that exact point and take a screen shot, but I couldn't get my video player to work that precisely. All it would take would be any kind of errant move, a slip, a gust of wind, anything, and you're looking at some serious carnage. Who knows what could happen if you cut that major artery that runs right through there. How many of you guys carry a tourniquet as part of your flight gear? If you fly alone, or even if you don't, you should seriously consider having something to stop serious bleeding and I'm not talking about Sponge Bob Squarepants Band Aids.
Anyway, that's all. My intention is not to beat anyone up, to sound all high and mighty, or to lecture anyone on safety. I just wanted to point out something that I thought was worth mentioning. Please be careful. I always come around and stand behind the prop when removing the ignitor. It only takes a couple of seconds more to do it that way.
Warm weather is finally here, happy flying guys.