The other day at the PASX gravel strip, the temps were such that there was just a bit of frost on the gravel. I proceed to take off and notice a few rocks go flinging up around the prop area. Never noticed that before, and didn't really give it much thought. I did probably 6 touch and go's then burned fuel for an hour looking for critters. Come back, land and put the plane in the hangar. I did my post flight walk around and oh shit.......

Well that doesn't look good. It was the perfect temp and rocks were sticking to the tires and flinging forward on my take off roll. I have about 450 hours on my MT utilizing mostly gravel strips and off airport stuff. Never had any damage. Some may say bullshit and have some long diatribe why. I don't really care. All I know is that once the stainless leading edge is punctured, it needs to be repaired by a MT authorized repair center. If this had been an aluminum prop, chances are there would have been a crack and that would equal new prop. My prop is heading to MT USA in Florida for overhaul and I'm getting new nickel leading edges put on the blades. I will be down 8 weeks and the cost including all shipping back and forth to Alaska will be $5700. Ouch, but better than buying a new prop. Based on what all the people I have talked to about the damage I have, they all say that nickel edges would have prevented the damage. Sure wish they had nickel edges when I bought my prop 6 years ago. I love my MT Prop and am looking forward to getting back in the air.

Now for all the comments...........

Wow Greg... bummer. Those dings look terrible. Oh well.... glad they can fix it. What does a new one cost?

Ouch- that sucks. I hate those at-freezing-and-loose-gravel conditions.
-DP

I’ve been in those conditions, and seriously damaged an aluminum prop.....as in new blade required.

The message here is NEVER do any more takeoffs than required in these conditions. If you see rocks slinging off the back of your tires forward, stop doing wha you’re doing.

This is also an a good argument for a set of “mud flaps” for your tires if you need to operate in these conditions often, or maybe even once.

MTV

mtv wrote:I’ve been in those conditions, and seriously damaged an aluminum prop.....as in new blade required.

The message here is NEVER do any more takeoffs than required in these conditions. If you see rocks slinging off the back of your tires forward, stop doing wha you’re doing.

This is also an a good argument for a set of “mud flaps” for your tires if you need to operate in these conditions often, or maybe even once.

MTV

Same here, great advise when you see anything flinging forward to stop, not just rocks, sticky mud or sand seems to sling forward and take decent chucks out as well.

Greg, that MT prop got you home safely and that is what is important.

Sorry to see that.
I am getting the nickel leading edge this winter also.

And like you,I love my MT prop, its been good to me for 1200 hrs of rocks, mud, gravel, and sand , still in great shape.

+1 for the nickel leading edge. It has been very durable on our dirt/gravel/rock/partial grass strip.

Thanks for posting that picture. I've been thinking of landing out at my farm on the county gravel road just for the heck of it but see that picture and not sure it is worth it. Really no challenge other than if you can't keep it on the 30 foot wide gravel, the steep ditch would be very unforgiving. I land on the grass at the airport and roll up on the asphalt to save the Bushwheels and so far zero nicks on the original style MT leading edge.

I would never have imagined that stones would puncture that leading like that. Feeling your pain man. I've taxied a lot in those conditions, the rocks flinging up off the tires looking like popcorn popping.

You should offer that pic to AeroTwin to sell their mud flaps.

Was this with grooved tires or smooth tires? I am assuming in the conditions even smooth tires could fling rocks.

Thanks for learning this lesson, so the rest of us don't have to.

I have on a set of the Desser 31x11x10 tires on ABI 10"wheels. Got the field approval in June. Love the set up. Like a said before, it was just the right conditions for a bad result. At the end of the day it's still a luxury problem that I have to fix.

And, what he has described is a very specific and relatively rare, set of circumstances.

It’s a combination of very specific humidity and temperature that makes every stone “sticky” as hell.

And, my airplane got a set of mud flaps right after my introduction to the phenomenon.

MTV

That sucks!

I've never seen the L/E literally punctured with holes like that, dents seem to be more common. Two hits one blade is also something!

It's always hard to know how big the offending rock was. It would be interesting to know exactly. I have a dent in my steel tube tailplane which always makes me wonder.

Battson wrote:That sucks!

I've never seen the L/E literally punctured with holes like that, dents seem to be more common. Two hits one blade is also something!

It's always hard to know how big the offending rock was. It would be interesting to know exactly. I have a dent in my steel tube tailplane which always makes me wonder.

Gravel runways are most often built with crushed rock, not sure that’s the right term, but point is, ALL the media has LOTs of sharp edges and pointy corners. Nasty stuff to throw at your tail, and worse to throw at your prop.

MTV

akgreg wrote:

Now for all the comments...........

My Comment- Fu*%

Sorry to see that. Did it get both blades? Also, just curious how much a repair would have been without Nickel leading edge replacement?

mtv wrote:Gravel runways are most often built with crushed rock, not sure that’s the right term, but point is, ALL the media has LOTs of sharp edges and pointy corners. Nasty stuff to throw at your tail, and worse to throw at your prop.

MTV

IIRC, the gravel runway at PASX uses some huge gravel. I want to say it's inch or 3/4 minus. My memory might fail me but I remember it being some big stuff.

Crzyivan13 wrote:

akgreg wrote:

Now for all the comments...........

My Comment- Fu*%

Sorry to see that. Did it get both blades? Also, just curious how much a repair would have been without Nickel leading edge replacement?

As far as cost difference, probably not much since labor is the big cost here, however, that is just a guess.

If memory serves me correctly, the nickel leading edge upgrade was $400/blade or $800 total.

That was from about a year ago and it could be different now.

Is nickel going to keep this from happening again?

Edit: I should add, I know that no prop is indestructible. Just curious about how much more protection nickel (actually) offers over SS.