The question is more like… do we need any olympics, at all?
Silvaire wrote:
The assumption is that kids and idiots are not going to lift the cowling and unscrew/disconnect the mag ground wires as they casually walk around on the ramp and peer into open cockpits.
I friend who I trust very well, asked me to pull his 150 through before he started it – no problem. I called to him: “Mags off?” he called back: “Mags off.”. I pulled the prop through, and the engine started nicely, and idled away… I gave my friend a glare through the turning propeller. He pulled the keys out of the mag switch, and held them up so I could see them. I directed that he have the mag circuit repaired – he did.
Never assume that the mag switch will prevent the engine running…
As for “Apron”, what is in front of the great cook? An Apron. What’s in front of the workpiece in the lathe? An Apron. What’s in front of the terminal building with the eager passengers? Apron seems to work for that too!
I too once started my Luscombe with the mag switch turned off, with the intent of priming the engine first, prior to going ‘hot’. Rule #1 of hand propping: never assume it’s not going to start as you’re pulling the prop through compression, or any other time. On the other hand a keyed mag switch with the key removed does do its job 99.99% of the time.
From the experience above I learned that (non-keyed) AAF A7 mag switches have copper contacts which corrode and dirt that accumulates, so one needs to clean them with Scotchbrite every five years or so, or they may no longer ground the mags… Link
Or have a repair station do it for you, naturally 
I park my plane on the ramp, not the apron, and you as an amphibian owner should too
So I take it your parking area is a sloping one?
Ramp = A sloping surface joining 2 levels.
Yes, that is the genesis of the term. Sea planes and amphibians were taxied up out of the water onto a ramp. I happen to live not too far from where the US Navy did its first trials along those lines. After that the name stuck for storage areas of any aircraft and an expanded definition came into being. The English language is like that, adaptable, which might be one reason we’re using it here.
The use of the word taxi in aviation has a similar derivation, BTW.
