How are tow bars ( BOGIBARS) and electrical systems related?

On the surface, you wouldn’t think they were related at all but in fact, electrical starter issues created the BOGIBAR. The story goes like this. A mechanic and friend that worked for me went to get a Citabria for its annual inspection. It was some distance from the shop. The battery or electrical system didn’t work so he decided to hand prop the plane and drive it back instead of pushing it for a half mile.  He did ALMOST EVERYTHING RIGHT.  The plane was tied down. He set the throttle and turned on the mags. The plane started on the first pull and roared to life. The throttle was a bit more advanced than he thought and the plane charged against the ropes breaking two of them. Jim was lucky to get out of the way of the prop but the airplane was on the move and swung in an arch by the one wing rope. It ate the wing off the Citabria next to it and pushed it onto yet another airplane. Jim came running back to the shop and when I got over to the North ramp, there was wood, fabric and aluminum everywhere. I wish I had photos. That was a very bad, no good day except that my friend hadn’t been badly injured or killed. I bought a few airplanes that day.

At that time, there were no tow bars that fit a Scott tailwheel. If there had been, perhaps this incident wouldn’t have happened. That experience prompted me to design and build the BOGIBAR and the first BOGIBAR was for the Scott tailwheel. We now call it the 04M-TDG for TAILDGAGGER. Since then we have created BOGIBARS for most general aviation aircraft. 

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