Plastic Bag in Prop

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buzzard86

Pre-takeoff checklist
Joined
Oct 5, 2009
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266
Location
Warrington, PA
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Display name:
Jim R
I pulled a plastic bag through the prop this morning. Was idling after landing waiting for another plane to clear the taxi lane and the bag blew right into the prop. Prop seem like it sliced it cleanly in two (didn't get hung up on prop or pulled into cowl).

Should I be concerned? I think it's a non-issue but as a new owner I thought I'd check with the collective wisdom on here.

Thanks.

Jim
 
buzzard86 said:
I sure hope not.
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LOL. Just noticed your handle. Anyway, if I was sure the entire bag went through then I would not worry about it. How can you be sure the entire bag went through and no bit of it was sucked into the intakes (including the cooling intakes) without stopping the engine and getting out?
 
alfadog said:
LOL. Just noticed your handle. Anyway, if I was sure the entire bag went through then I would not worry about it. How can you be sure the entire bag went through and no bit of it was sucked into the intakes (including the cooling intakes) without stopping the engine and getting out?
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I had already landed when I hit it and was nearly back to my tiedown. I taxied back to my space, shut down, and inspected what I could see from in front of the cowl. I did not see any signs of bag remnants.

Do you think further investigation is necessary?

Jim
 
buzzard86 said:
I had already landed when I hit it and was nearly back to my tiedown. I taxied back to my space, shut down, and inspected what I could see from in front of the cowl. I did not see any signs of bag remnants.

Do you think further investigation is necessary?

Jim
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I would pull the top cowling and make sure there was no plastic lodged in the cooling fins.
 
I was on the ground one time adding oil with a paper filler cone when a gust of wind came up and in a blink the paper cone was gone. One mechanic's opinion was to not worry.... it couldn't be in there, no place for it to go/hide. Another mechanic said... can't hurt to open it up and look.

It was behind the engine sitting perfectly in a crossing of the engine mount like it was set there. I was happy to have it out of there.
 
I picked up a plastic bag in a rotor once while hovering a H269C. A lot of shacking and wobbling before I set it down and disengaged the clutch, and removed what was left.
 
Thanks, guys. Heading up to the airport now to pull the cowl just to be on the safe side.

Jim
 
buzzard86 said:
Well, that makes me feel a lot better! If people are electively tossing chickens into a spinning prop without concern, then my encounter with the bag seems pretty insignificant. :)
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Now you know why I asked :D
 
NoHeat said:
Why isn't that considered to be a prop strike that requires a teardown?

I'm just wondering, because an instructor told me that he would consider hitting a goose to be a prop strike. So what about a bird the size of a chicken?
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Don't know. If I owned an airplane, it would not be high on my list to throw a raw chicken at its spinning prop :)
 
NoHeat said:
Why isn't that considered to be a prop strike that requires a teardown?

I'm just wondering, because an instructor told me that he would consider hitting a goose to be a prop strike. So what about a bird the size of a chicken?
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Didn't slow the prop down.
 
I love the little girl cleaning the chicken off the front of the plane "Get in on the ground floor...when do I get to fly?"
 
NoHeat said:
Why isn't that considered to be a prop strike that requires a teardown?

I'm just wondering, because an instructor told me that he would consider hitting a goose to be a prop strike. So what about a bird the size of a chicken?
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Ask your instructor if they know the difference between a Continental engine requirements and the Lycoming requirements. and which has an AD and which one doesn't.
 
buzzard86 said:
Well, that makes me feel a lot better! If people are electively tossing chickens into a spinning prop without concern, then my encounter with the bag seems pretty insignificant. :)
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If there were any part of the bag in the cowl, you would have smelt it when you got to the hangar.
 
Tom-D said:
Ask your instructor if they know the difference between a Continental engine requirements and the Lycoming requirements. and which has an AD and which one doesn't.
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Good point, but assuming it was not a Lycoming, wouldn't work on the prop be necessary anyhow?
 
Good thing it wasn't a plastic parking cone. It can sure make a lot of toothpicks and splinters when you taxi a Wooden MT prop into one.
 
kmead said:
Good thing it wasn't a plastic parking cone. It can sure make a lot of toothpicks and splinters when you taxi a Wooden MT prop into one.
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Voice of experience? :eek::D
 
Tom-D said:
If there were any part of the bag in the cowl, you would have smelt it when you got to the hangar.
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Depends, oil cooler wouldn't be that hot, but a blockage there of would still be bad juju
 
alfadog said:
Was there a chicken in the bag?
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My dad told me a story of how they would test aircraft engines by shooting turkeys through them. GE turbojets in late 70's. someone forgot to thaw the turkeys once.... Whoops
 
dell30rb said:
My dad told me a story of how they would test aircraft engines by shooting turkeys through them. GE turbojets in late 70's. someone forgot to thaw the turkeys once.... Whoops
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I had always heard they were testing the integrity of the windscreen. Sme foreign carrier. They wrote Boeing who said "thaw the chicken/turkey/whatever".
 
dell30rb said:
My dad told me a story of how they would test aircraft engines by shooting turkeys through them. GE turbojets in late 70's. someone forgot to thaw the turkeys once.... Whoops
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I worked at Pratt and Whitney's R&D facility in the 1970's. The engine test stands were miles away from the main building and I never had cause to go out there. Heard that they threw bird carcasses, bags of nuts and bolts, and all sorts of stuff in the engines.
 
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