Grassstrippilot wrote:After my camping trip to Mexican Mountain a few weeks ago, I came home to find another good ding in my horizontal stab. Much deeper than the last one. I know it's part of the price of where we play, but I just don't recall seeing a lot of this kind of damage on other planes at fly-ins.

So I was starting to wonder what can be done about it outside of the one expensive STC that is out there.

I noticed a pretty good sized one in the super cub.
I know that maf has an stc for the 206 for removable leading edges for the horizontals. I'm guessing for quicker and easier repair. Not sure if they are made of heavier material or not. When I was down in Honduras a few years back, the 206 we were flying had some pretty (really) good fist sized dents. The pilot/mechanic said he didn't want to open it up in the bush, as he didn't have the tools to fix it. Didn't seem to bother the plane too much. That said plane now has the removable leading edge horizontals.

I don't recal where I saw it, but somewhere I saw a picture of a fairing that mounted around the back of a bushwheel, streamlining it into kind of a teardrop shape. If made right, I would think that it would also keep things from getting thrown up by the tires.

My friend Phil made up his mud flaps for his S7.
I don't think he had to many issues with them and the big wheels...sure stops any small rocks ect getting sprayed around

Quis wrote:I don't recal where I saw it, but somewhere I saw a picture of a fairing that mounted around the back of a bushwheel, streamlining it into kind of a teardrop shape. If made right, I would think that it would also keep things from getting thrown up by the tires.

Sounds like the Maule-type wheel pant?

Battson wrote:
Sounds like the Maule-type wheel pant?

There is a Maule type wheel pant? I feel cheated! This ignorance is not blissful!

Zzz wrote:Battson dug this one up earlier. I think this looks pretty cool, but not sure you could use it with such tight clearance in a low pressure bushwheel.

Was googling soloutions to stop rocks coming up into my pusher prop tonight and came across this photo! Suprise suprise its on bcp! God i lovebthis place!

My fenders work good at keeping the wings clean, but the horizontal still gets some mud on it. Maybe if I hung some rubber off of it it would help... haven't noticed any speed loss, but I haven't really looked for it either.

Grassstrippilot wrote:After my camping trip to Mexican Mountain a few weeks ago, I came home to find another good ding in my horizontal stab. Much deeper than the last one. I know it's part of the price of where we play, but I just don't recall seeing a lot of this kind of damage on other planes at fly-ins.

So I was starting to wonder what can be done about it outside of the one expensive STC that is out there.

You could always try and make your own and see about having a field approval. I want some, the stc I saw just seems a little steep.

Ben

Aero Twin at Merrill Field, Anchorage, AK sells gravel deflectors that are approved on several models of Cessna aircraft. Not cheap, but they work really well in my experience, and are widely used in the air taxi world of Alaska.

Here's a link: http://www.aerotwin.com/products/main_g ... ctors.html

One thing that's surprising about these things is how much they slow a plane down.....more than you'd think.

MTV