Every Prop tells a story: Bird Trouble
A Bird at the wrong time and place. Both aircraft and bird took off at the same time. However, the flight path of the Guinea Fowl led directly into the spinning propeller. The pilot cut the engine and did an emergency landing. The largest splinter was found 100m distant. The engine sustained nil damage, although some […]
Every Prop tells a story: Tested to Pieces
This propeller was fitted on a 2litre VW wind generating machine and spun to 3600RPM. A front-end loader dumped 1000kg’s worth of river-sand, containing an average gravel size of 6mm, into the prop arc at a rate of 100kgs per minute. Note the severe abrasion damage to the wood content of both blades, compared to […]
Every Prop tells a story: Hanger Banger
A recipe for disaster. SWING! CLUNCK! SWING! CLUNCK! SWING! CLUNCK!!!!! TAKE A REST, CATCH A BREATH. “THE @#$%& ENGINE WON’T START!” PRIME, THROTTLE SET, MAGS ON! SWING! CLUNCK!, SWI . . . . . !!!!! “VRRROOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!” “SSSHHHHIIII. . . . . . . .!!!!” LEAP BACK FROM ROARING PROP!! (HE FORGOT THE CHOCKS) THERE GOES […]