Microlighters

Hi folk.

This afternoon, a student of mine, after returning from a flight of almost 1 hour, and having rested, commenced a pre-flight for another coastal jolly.

So, guess what he finds

A piece of propellor leading edge protection metal had come adrift and torn through his wing. Not only had it torn into and through the bottom surface, plus the mylar leading edge insert before bursting through the top of the leading edge dacron, but it then stayed wedged into the top for a lekka coastal scenic flight.

So, yes, parts which come into contact with the propellor, DO GET FLUNG FORWARD AND UP THROUGH THE WING!

Consider that the aircraft was flying forwards with an IAS of 47MPH, and this piece of metal STILL managed to tear through the formost section of the wing. It almost overtook the wing!

What's more, as he rotated for take-off, I imagined I heard a prop strike, but watching his climb out, assumed I had imagined it as he did not report any unusual sound or handling problem so I let him continue the flight. It think it's safe to assume that I did indeed hear this happen, and he then subsequently flew for a 50minute flight like this.


Regards.

Glad you were all ok David...scary stuff.

Is there any indication why the leading edge material flew/broke off? Did the wheels flick up a stone or something?

Hi Alan. Nah, just age. These aero props, the original ones at least ( I brought it to Solo Wings attention, but don't know if anything was done about it), had the metal leading edge protection tips secured with very, very mild steel rivets. They had surface rusted within 2 months.

I have, over the years, replaced the pins, but obviously this one 'beat me to it'

This is just one of those things that we face flying non certified products. And you CANNOT now make another friggin law about propellor's etc., (which is typically what a beaurocrat would do).

So, as it should be done, just spread the word. Let hangar talk sort it out.

Cheers.

David

Thanks for sharing David,

Propeller maintenance and over all condition is something I think we all need to pay a lot more attention to. When I was still training, we had a stone get flicked up into the prop on take off roll. Instructor reacted immediately after hearing it. (far quicker than me ) and we aborted. Upon inspection one of the Warp blades had a big dent in the aluminium protection strips and the wing had an "impact mark" just in front of the trailing edge material on the port side. Luckily the stone did not penetrate the Dacron but the prop had to be repaired I recall....

We have just fitted a new NC prop which does not have these aluminium strips, I have been meaning to chat to Nigel Coutts about this and whether or not it is possible to fit them on an NC prop?...would be interested to hear from the experienced guys what they reccomend...and if its really worth it?