Wooden Props and Hail

[Monocock]

Was wondering at the weekend on a trip back from the South West.

Someone once told me that hailstones can shred a wooden prop at high power settings. I can't say i'm convinced although the storm I skirted around this evening did seem to clean most of the dead flies off the leading edges of the prop and the airframe.... :ooh:

Any thoughts????

[Sir George Cayley]

Advice


Don't go there!


If your wooden prop has no edge protection then even moderate rain will damage it. I speak from experience.

Hail for even a few minutes would have a huge effect on a props ability to deliver thrust.

I note that Chris Lodge now has a metal insert along the leading edge of his. I'm sure its not there for "bling"

Keeping out of the way of clouds is generally a good thing imho


Sir George Cayley

[Monocock]

Without wishing to beat this thread too hard, what actually happens then?

Does the leading edge splinter up? I would imagine that the tips would be worst affected due to their higher speed through the hail.....

I have this image of coming out of a hail storm with a little spinning boomerang on the front!!!:oh:

[AerBabe]

I would expect it to look more like chimney sweeping brush. :uhoh:

[A_Pommie]

Last year I got caught in the edge of a rain storm, probably only in it for a minute or two but it was heavy rain possibly with a bit of hail. I pulled back the power as much as I dared to try and protect the prop. All was well apart from a funny noise when I reduced power to land. Oh and the fact that the leading edge of the prop looked like it had had chunks bitten out of the leading edge. It was only the first couple of inches in from the tip. The prop had to be returned to the manufaturer for inspection. Luckily they filled the damaged bits rather than scrapping the prop.

[Whiskey Kilo Wanderer]

Carbon fibre props, e.g. Warp Drive are susceptible to heavy rain damage too. After flying through heavy rain one day the prop was scarred from the leading edge back, particularly along the outer third of the blades. I now avoid heavy rain by as large a margin as possible.

Safe Flying,
WKW

[FlyingForFun]

And on a slight tangent....

Was taught, when doing my float-plane rating, that you only ever use very low power or very high power when on the water.

Very low power doesn't stir the water up too much. Very high power lets you lift the nose away from the water. Anything in between results in the prop being subjected to spray and causes serious prop damage. And that's wet water, as opposed to hard frozen water like wot you get in hail! :D

FFF
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