Summary
The pilot under instruction had no prior experience with DH82 aircraft. His instructor gave him a preflight
briefing on the external and internal checks and the engine starting procedure but did not point out that
the mixture control lever on the throttle quadrant was disconnected. With the pilot under instruction occupying
the rear cockpit and the instructor standing behind the propeller the starting procedure was commenced without
the aid of wheel chocks. In response to the instructor's call, the pilot under instruction set what he
believed to be the throttle lever in the start position and switched on the magnetos. The throttle was in fact
in the full forward (fully open) position and the pilot under instruction had mistakenly operated the mixture
control lever in the belief that it was the throttle lever. The instructor swung the propeller from behind and,
when the engine started, the aircraft surged forward under high power. The instructor was forced to jump
clear and the aircraft commenced to swing in a wide left arc through 180 degrees until it struck a cyclone wire
fence and came to rest, tail high, on the fence line.
