Aviation Word Of The Day - Chicken Stick

Chicken stick

 Sometimes the aircraft engine, like anything other machine has it's fair share of mechanical problems. When this happens,there are several methods employed to kickstart the engine. This is very typical of propellers.
 A chicken stick is a dowel or mop handle measuring roughly 8 inches long that is used to  flip the propeller manually. It is usually wooden and it is used to spin the propeller so that the engine can fire up quickly.
 There are several other methods used to kickstart the propeller including using a starter and batt or hand starting.
 However, using the chicken starter is one, if not the safest and fastest method of firing up a nitro powered aircraft propeller. Using the chicken stick is better because propellers have extremely sharp edges which will cause razor cuts if one intends to flip it using the hand starting method.
 Certain precautions need to be observed when using the chicken stick.For example,installing a piece of insulating foam over the stick would go a long way so as not to break the propeller in case the propeller strikes the stick on a backfire.