Polished N1 Fan Jet Engine.
 

Someone recently told me that he regularly, in addition to to the usual compressor washes, he made sure the N1 fan was polished, or at least wiped down in a similar fashion that the wing leading edges are. Efficiency gains he claimed.

Rubbish or not?

Might be worth another 0.1% in fuel burned. When doing comparative performance testing of engines, I cleaned the LE and front face of fan blades, just to ensure that bit of uncertainty was removed.

The fan blades get gunked up a lot faster than the compressor. mostly due to insects (depends on where and when). This gunk is almost as thick as the stuff on your car radiator. Of course it tends to stick to the backsides of the blades and the inboard Leadin edges more often. Most of the rest of the insects go out the fan duct.

the rest of the insects go out the fan duct...
 

... saying phew, that was a close one...

What's the last thing going through the insect's mind…………………??
















….. his ass!!