Bad take off.

[Rubbernecker]

Just thought I would share with everyone and incident that happened to me a couple of weeks ago. After performing my preflight, everything was ago. I had inflated the chute and waiting for it to center at which time I applied full power for take-off. Just then I felt this thump and major vibration. I shut her down only to discover the prop had become delaminated and destroyed. It also destroyed the other two blades. Further investigation revealed that there was a large hole in the chute. Large enough to stick your head in. I pondered what caused this for some time till a friend showed me a piece of wire wrapped around the frame. It looks like I picked up a piece of wire from the runway and it wrapped around the frame, thus allowing the other two blades to strike it. Good for me I hadn’t rotated yet. Bad for me that it has cost close to 1,000 dollars to repair. I fly from a farm pasture. You can bet that I will go over it with a metal detector before I fly again. Take care and fly safe.

John

[Rich K]

Wow --

Good point made.

Check that runway.


Please the only thing damage was your wallet and not you butt !


Rich K

[indoruwet]

We fly regularly off a sod farm (whoa ... crop circles ... :cool: ), so the grass is USUALLY void of debris.

However, once and a while, we have to fly off the area where they just harvested the sod. They put the sod on pallets and often there are pieces of wood left on those areas.

We have learned to *walk the area* before we use that area, and pick up any pieces of wood.

[lowpull]

Rubbernecker,
That hurts just thinking about it. Glad to hear you didn't get any holes. Seems like I'm always finding more stuff to check closer before every flight. One guy broke an axle when he hit a hole in the field that he hadn't seen before.

FOD
Foreign Object Damage, killer of men and machines.

FOD Walkdown
When I worked on Navy aircraft carriers, everyone had to stop what they were doing and join up and walk the flight deck from bow to fantail looking for FOD, anything that could get sucked up or blown away. (About 7 times a day!)
They take safety seriously out there.

[indoruwet]

everyone had to stop what they were doing and join up and walk the flight deck from bow to fantail looking for FOD
Yikes, don't remind me ... :rolleyes:

[tkelly1250]

Glad you were ok. I picked up a small bottle top (like the little one on a throw-away water bottle) and it ruined a blade on takeoff. When ever your prop gets damaged, make sure you have a service facility take a quick look at your engine - mainly your gear box. Quick stopping like this can leave very unnoticeable but deadly damage inside your engine or gearbox. Good luck and safe flying!:)