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Old 5th Dec 2019, 11:56
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Pilot DAR
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Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Ontario, Canada
Age: 63
Posts: 5,621
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It is common for bugs to nest in small orifices. Pitot tubes make a favourite place. Happily, Cessna type static ports seem too small for them to bother. I've had a number of blocked pitot tubes due to nesting bugs - and this includes a number of occasions where the plane had been parked with a pitot cover for only two days since the last flight. So I got a better pitot cover! They've also nested in my fuel tank vents, once resulting in collapsing the side of my wing tip float aux tank when I pumped it into the main tank. Happily, it popped back, with only a minor wrinkle. I then drilled tiny holes around the periphery of each fuel tank vent tube (1/4" or 3/8" diameter), and threaded fine lock wire to form an X across the end of the vent tube - that was effective.

Generally, for GA planes, unless it's stated in the flight manual, the performance loss from hitting a swarm of bugs in flight will not create an unsafe situation for the plane, though yes, it may create a loss of a couple of knots in cruise speed. It is a good wash and wax before a multi hour cross country flight. Here, in Ontario, we do get clouds of bugs up to a few hundred feet. I was once landing on the lake, and hit such a cloud. It was so dense, that my windshield bugged over. I was just able to see enough to complete the landing, and I had to shut down, and clean the windshield, and as much wing as I could reach, to continue my flight.

A smear of bugs on the leading edge is ugly, but of a lesser concern than the top of the wing being contaminated. Frost or other sticking snow/ice on airfoils is taken very seriously in Canada. The rules are specific - none permitted for takeoff. A layer of thick frost can make a wing nearly useless, increasing stall speed by many knots (like 20 in some cases). A number of careless pilots in Canada have gone off the end of a runway, attempting to take off when the plane refused to fly due to frost or snow. A few made it into the air, to then stall. A clean wing is a good idea, and a legal requirement in Canada. The inspector won't stop you for some bugs, or chipped paint, but will for frost/snow/ice.
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