I made an unplanned fuel stop this morning on my weekly jaunt down to SE New Mexico ... the self-serve gizmo at my usual fuel stop airport was OOC (that's "out of commission" for all you non-Naval vets out there) ... anyway, the gas truck guy at the alternate airport met me inside his prop shop so that I could pay the fuel tab, and I noticed quite a few of the props in his shop had bent tips ... I asked him, " ... are some of those bent tips the result of hitting rocks? ... I fly backcountry and that's one of my worries from landing on dirt & turf airstrips."

The prop shop guy then told me "You know, you can bend a prop like that and still fly the airplane back to wherever you can get it serviced .... it'll shake a little, but especially if both tips are bent about equal, the airplane will fly just fine for the trip back."

The proposition of purposely taking off and flying cross country with a bent prop seems pretty shaky (pardon the pun) to me. I'd always heard that even a minor imbalance in a prop will shake an engine right out of its firewall mounts. And losing the lift from the prop tips that're bent 45 degrees or more (like the props the prop guy pointed out to me) would surely curtail takeoff performance, even if the vibrations didn't do you in.

So my question for the other BCPers, after hearing the prop guy's advice, is:

Have any of you struck a rock or stump and bent a prop, and then safely flew it back to civilization? I'm not terribly interested in hearing opinions on the subject ... I just wanna hear (mostly) true first hand stories.

And if you did it once, would you do it again?

Delete

You don't really want someone to fess up in front of FAA do you?

RobBurson wrote:You don't really want someone to fess up in front of FAA do you?

Well, somebody (especially the real bush pilots) could always claim they exercised their discretion as PIC, weighed the risks of staying stranded in the wilderness vs. flying a wounded bird back to civilization.

You can also always say, "well, I have this friend who once had to ... "

Bent a prop by sinking in soft gravel on river bar, Nowitna River 200nm west of Fairbanks, 60nm south of Yukon River. No choice but to straighten a little and fly out. No shakes and no loss of power. Tracking looked terrible. Ended up replacing due to length after trimming off damage.

I haven't done it but hunting alone one time my step dad took a chunk out of one end of the prop on his PA 18 with a shot gun. Walked to the nearest farm and hacksawed the ends off as close as could be done in the field and flew it back home. Definitely out of balance but never had anything show up from it later.

e-gods, i vote we ask Ray Arnold what he thinks...i know of one bcp'er who wishes he had maybe listened to him at big creek one day....

jomac wrote:e-gods, i vote we ask Ray Arnold what he thinks...i know of one bcp'er who wishes he had maybe listened to him at big creek one day....

Information Removed

I once saw a 206 at Sulphur Creek Id. where the prop was not bent but had a hole in it. Looked like it had either been drilled clean or shot with a .223 or a .25 caliber round. It was about 8 to 10 inches from the end on the leading edge. The hole just barely opened up on the leading edge. We tried to get him to replace it but he flew it home. Fella was a neurosurgeon.
Bad case of get home itis.

dirtstrip wrote:I haven't done it but hunting alone one time my step dad took a chunk out of one end of the prop on his PA 18 with a shot gun. Walked to the nearest farm and hacksawed the ends off as close as could be done in the field and flew it back home. Definitely out of balance but never had anything show up from it later.

Dirtstrip .... thanks for sharing the story. Then as they say, " ... and now for the rest of the story ... ".

You've got my curiousity up, just how and why did your step dad shoot a chunk out of his own prop with a shotgun?

nmflyguy wrote:You've got my curiousity up, just how and why did your step dad shoot a chunk out of his own prop with a shotgun?

I didn't want to ask...

nealkas wrote:

nmflyguy wrote:You've got my curiousity up, just how and why did your step dad shoot a chunk out of his own prop with a shotgun?

I didn't want to ask...

He was never clear on the details of this one but since he is 82 now he will probably fess up. I think it had something to do with climbing over the seat in flight with the shot gun while fox hunting. I'll see him in the next few days and I'll get him around to that subject.

I refrained from replying before, since I don't have personal experience in this department. However, a close friend of mine did have 6" of prop tip separate from his aircraft in flight, over hostile terrain. He persuaded me that that's not something I want to have happen.

-DP

A good friend of mine nicked his prop pretty good landing on gravel, leaving about a quarter sized chip. He was able to file and drill out a "matching" hole on the other blade. It got him back to civilization with some mild in-flight vibrations. He mentioned to me there was no internal engine damage found, but it always bothered him for years if some hidden damage from the vibrations was going to appear in flight.

Perhaps BCP needs an annual "BCP Darwin Awards" program, where we list the ten dumbest things posted on here, and/or the ten things asked that will get someone in trouble.

Duh.

MTV

nmflyguy, your join date suggests that you may not be aware of the Great BCP Meltdown of 2008.

Post-fly-in a certain member who I've since become friends with posted a detailed account, with photos, of flying a damaged machine home after a hard landing. Long story short, a lurker reported him to the FAA and he was violated. They showed up to the meeting with printouts of the forum thread in hand.

It was a groin shot to be sure, and awakened many of us to the fact that flying forums are scrutinized by both FAA investigators and people who get off on snitching on others. Our groups appears especially watched due to our cowboy reputation.

It was also acknowledged that much of what goes on in rural or backcountry Alaska of this nature is ignored, while accessibility here in the Lower 48 usually means that an "unsafe" machine can be trailered out.

What I learned from it though is "don't ask, don't tell."

Legal disclaimer: "All stories are fictional & are strictly for entertainment purposes. No airplanes were harmed in the making of this website". If there's any attourneys on board here, maybe they can fine tune it.

Start a foaf story section...
For those times when a friend of a friend who is totally not you didn't do that thing that had someone did do would have been illegal but it still makes for a good campfire yarn.

Fly with a bent and/or damaged prop, even one with a relatively small nick in the wrong place, and the FAA may be the LEAST of your problems. I've seen an airplane where the engine came off its mount due to a prop tip departure at high rpm. That is generally (and was in that case) a fatal.

Messing around with props is a BAD idea if you like living, and you like your airplane. We had two inches come off a Cub's prop tip. The pilot landed it (on skis). No harm, no foul. Sat out there till someone brought them another prop, all while his dipstick back seater was suggesting cutting off the other tip, etc. Put a fresh prop on it, flew it to town (40 minutes) and mechanics found two of the motor mount tubes were broken all the way through. That engine was hanging on by a thread.

I wouldn't mess with a damaged prop, my own self.

MTV

If your more likely to Die by stayin' put than gettin' out, that is a call to make then, otherwise.......

I have to 'Ditto' MTV on this one. Some bets the ante is just WAY too high!

lc