Long-EZ Bird Strike

Pretty incredible story:

http://www.ez.org/birdstrike.htm

Long-EZ pilot at 9,500 feet hit a bird, which shattered his prop, and the broken
prop took off almost all of one winglet. Full aileron was only able to keep the
wings level above 110 knots. Landed safely...sounds like a damn fine pilot.

Ron Wanttaja

Ron Wanttaja wrote:
Pretty incredible story:

http://www.ez.org/birdstrike.htm

Long-EZ pilot at 9,500 feet hit a bird, which shattered his prop, and the broken
prop took off almost all of one winglet. Full aileron was only able to keep the
wings level above 110 knots. Landed safely...sounds like a damn fine pilot.

Ron Wanttaja

Hi Ron, I wonder what the evidence is that it was a bird strike? I don't
see any blood and guts anywhere. Of course with a pusher I suppose it
could have hit the prop and not left a trace? I hit a bird with the prop
of my Pacer one time and it was one nasty mess to clean up, the entire
airplane had some kind of mess on it. Regardless I am glad he was
able to land safely.

Jerry

On Tue, 28 Jun 2005 18:25:53 -0700, Jerry Springer wrote:

Ron Wanttaja wrote:
Pretty incredible story:

http://www.ez.org/birdstrike.htm

Long-EZ pilot at 9,500 feet hit a bird, which shattered his prop, and the broken
prop took off almost all of one winglet. Full aileron was only able to keep the
wings level above 110 knots. Landed safely...sounds like a damn fine pilot.

Ron Wanttaja

Hi Ron, I wonder what the evidence is that it was a bird strike? I don't
see any blood and guts anywhere.

I noticed that, too. Something else could have gone through the blade, but I
don't know if a bolt or nut would do this kind of damage. The guy may have
cleaned it off already....

Ron Wanttaja

"Ron Wanttaja" wrote ...
I noticed that, too. Something else could have gone through the blade,
but I
don't know if a bolt or nut would do this kind of damage. The guy may
have
cleaned it off already....

"I heard something and I felt as if I was in a paint mixer. Then the
vibration stopped."

Looks and sounds like half the prop broke off and the other half shook off.

Rich

Ron Wanttaja wrote:

On Tue, 28 Jun 2005 18:25:53 -0700, Jerry Springer wrote:


Ron Wanttaja wrote:

Pretty incredible story:

http://www.ez.org/birdstrike.htm

Long-EZ pilot at 9,500 feet hit a bird, which shattered his prop, and the broken
prop took off almost all of one winglet. Full aileron was only able to keep the
wings level above 110 knots. Landed safely...sounds like a damn fine pilot.

Ron Wanttaja

Hi Ron, I wonder what the evidence is that it was a bird strike? I don't
see any blood and guts anywhere.


I noticed that, too. Something else could have gone through the blade, but I
don't know if a bolt or nut would do this kind of damage. The guy may have
cleaned it off already....

Ron Wanttaja

I also wonder about the scratches on the tip of the blade in the white
paint area? the prop looks like it may be a ?Bernie Warnke? prop that
has Kevlar on the tip. I had one on my RV-6 that had Kevlar on the front
tip and about 1/2 of the back side of the prop. I loaned it to the late
Bill Benedict to try on his RV-4 and he lost about the same amount of
tip on one of the blades. Not both as this one is. He was able to shut
down and make a successful landing on a airport without any other
damage. There was speculation that the wood was rotten in that area (I
had about 500 hours on the prop) or that it was not tracked right when
he installed it. He admitted he did not track it.

Jerry

On Tue, 28 Jun 2005 18:52:56 -0700, Ron Wanttaja
wrote:

Hi Ron, I wonder what the evidence is that it was a bird strike? I don't
see any blood and guts anywhere.

I noticed that, too. Something else could have gone through the blade, but I
don't know if a bolt or nut would do this kind of damage. The guy may have
cleaned it off already....

Ron Wanttaja

Here's another couple of data points: The prop appears to be made
from a solid blank, not laminated from numerous strips.

I read a long time ago that the props on the EZ type aircraft run in
such turbulence that it's recommended they use wooden props only. The
turbulence is unavoidable in that it's the result of the prop passing
through the lift created by the trailing edge of the wing. There also
may be exhaust pulses to whap through as well. That's why the EZ's
have that characteristic buzz when they fly by. In fact all pushers
seem to sound that way.

Wooden props are supposed to **DAMPEN** vibration.

Interestingly, the only part of the information suggesting a bird
strike is the title. Nothing in the storyline claims that or suggests
it. It certainly isn't impossible for birds to be at 9,500, just a
lot less likely than closer to the ground. It isn't migration time...

Corky Scott

"Corky Scott" wrote

Here's another couple of data points: The prop appears to be made
from a solid blank, not laminated from numerous strips.

I could be wrong, but it looked to me to be made of thin laminations, about
1/8th" thick, instead of fewer thick ones.

Like I said, I could be wrong. Anyone know for sure?
--
Jim in NC

"Morgans" wrote:

I could be wrong, but it looked to me to be made of thin laminations, about
1/8th" thick, instead of fewer thick ones.

Like I said, I could be wrong. Anyone know for sure?

Yes, those lines are laminations glue lines, not tree rings.
Here is a close-up pic from the site,

http://www.ez.org/images/prop1.jpg

My Ted Hendrickson prop is also made of thin laminations and is, I
have always thought, quite beautiful. Ted retired several years ago.

Lastly, as a Long EZ builder, owner, and flyer whose experience with
EZs dates back to the early Rutan days, my response to the scenario
and images depicted can be summed up in two words, Holy ****!

David Odum -- email: David at AirplaneZone dot com

On 2005-06-29 10:50:48 -0400, Corky Scott
said:

I read a long time ago that the props on the EZ type aircraft run in
such turbulence that it's recommended they use wooden props only.

Corky,

not questioning what you've read, but didn't Klaus Savier use to make
carbon fibre propellers, very hi-po indeed, for Longs? Coupled with a
pressure-recovery spinner and cowling of his own design, it was worth
quite a few knots.

I am working off dim memories here, but ISTR that Klaus had vibration
problems with an experimental (in the deepest sense of the word)
3-bladed prop and that he recommended 2-blades only for the EZ series
aircraft.

Indeed, here's one for sale on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...8722 584&rd=1

If


If the link breaks up:

http://snipurl.com/fxto

Hey, just checked his website and he still does make props:

http://lightspeedengineering.com/Tec...ties/Props.htm

But they have wood cores. I had thought he made all-compo ones. Guess not.

--
cheers

-=K=-

Rule #1: Don't hit anything big.

On Thu, 30 Jun 2005 11:19:37 -0400, Kevin O'Brien
kevin@org-header-is-my-domain-name wrote:

But they have wood cores. I had thought he made all-compo ones. Guess not.

I'm not an aerodynamics engineer, or any kind of engineer, I just read
a lot and am cursed with this memory recall that can remember
portions of LOTS of stuff, but not necessarily the original source of
the recall.

I read somewhere that metal props can and do pick up certain
frequencies of vibration and can amplify the vibrations under the
right circumstances. When this happens, the vibrations can fracture a
portion of the prop blade and sometimes the entire blade.

Cutting down a metal prop can bring it into a resonant frequency that
the prop did not previously experience.

At the opposite end of the vibration spectrum is the wood prop which
actually dampens vibration.

Somewhere in the middle are composite props. Perhaps closer to the
wood end of the vibration spectrum would be the composite wood/carbon
fiber props, I'm guessing.

I did a little searching on Google about this subject and found
information that indicates Longs, Vari's, Velocities and Cozy's have
suffered a number of prop failures for a variety of reasons.

I don't have the information to know whether they suffer more prop
failures than tractor prop airplanes as a group. But having the prop
on an extension, which a number of the genre do, I would think would
make the prop more sensitive to turbulent air, regardless what it's
made of.

Corky Scott