Incident Overview
During a preflight inspection at 0100 local time, a pilot preparing for a pleasure flight with two friends discovered that the aircraft's battery was dead. In an effort to proceed, the pilot decided to hand-prop the engine for start, despite having no prior experience or instruction in the procedure.
Sequence of Events
After approximately 2-3 minutes of hand-propping, the engine caught and the airplane lurched forward. The left wing and empennage tie-down ropes fell off, causing the airplane to pivot around the remaining right wing tie-down rope. As the empennage swung around, the pilot was struck by either the left wing strut or horizontal stabilizer while chasing the runaway aircraft.
Collision
The uncontrolled airplane then collided with another airplane parked in an adjacent parking spot. The pilot stated that he had never hand-propped an airplane before and had not received instruction on how to perform the procedure.