Not being rotory rated I can't compare clean on blades, but the Cessna C188
suffers terribly when the L/E is dirty and the Weatherly 201B flies on just
the same, I think airfoil section,among other attributes, has a lot to do
with it and most blades have a symmetrical section.Keep up the good work
Rocky, by the way, what's your average field size you're working there?

wrote in message
ups.com...
In case anyone is interested, been doing some busy days of late.
Several 10+ hours days in the cockpit. Weather cooperated and we had to
get caught up. Get caught up and then have to sit again for a day or
two...now busy trying to get caught up again! It will go this way all
season. This morning we began at daylight and the wind got us about
0800 after a couple hundred acres. so I spent the rest of the a.m.
cleaning the blades and sealing a leak on one of the hopper tanks. Took
a nap and it was much appreciated even though I get a good nights
sleep. Another pilot I know calls them "safety naps" and it is so
appropriate.
Several times in the wind I've noticed a really hard time getting
turned around. I can't help but wonder where in hell some people say
the wind has no affect on performance. I guess they have never done any
ag work. I had a discussion with Barry Schiff re; clean blades and
their affect on performance. While I have enormous for him and his
career, I wish he could experience the difference in dirty blades/wings
in crop dusting vs clean/polished blades/wings. I think he'd rearrange
his thinking on that subject.
In the earliest discussion here I was accused of being too cavalier or
nonchalant about the dangers involved and poo pooed the damage I had
incurred while crop spraying/dusting. There is no doubt this is one of
the more dangerous aspects of flying in putting ourselves in the red
zone on every flight we make and requiring that we make zero mistakes
lest we end up in the emergency room and on the News At 9.
Even so, after 39 years of doing it, I still get a smile on my face
when the day goes right, the turns are like on rails, the spray pattern
is moving slowly downwind, there are no bumps and the engine is smooth,
the blades are smooth and there is no hop to anything....and the money
meter is going Ka Chingggg.....
Oh yessss.....ag flying is unique and satisfying in a particular way.
Rocky