Boy!...was that stupid of me!

[gyro]

I was making a few adjustments on my gyro when my nephew came by.... we got to talking and he asked a few tech questions and then I was off and flying. I took off on a 25mile trip to a friend’s house. I circled around a few times and was on my way back when something struck my helmet, I was up nearly 800ft and I thought now what the on earth could that have been??? I didn’t see a bird and bugs don’t normally go that high:confused: Everything continued as normal and I flew back home and did a few passes around the home front and landed. As I was wiping the prop off I noticed a chunk missing and further examination revealed Ooops! I was shocked for a minute and then in dawned on me.....I had set the wrench down on the engine and got to talking and forgot to put it back. That prop could have easily came apart but thank God it was a WD and she held together. And thank God I had a helmet on, the wrench obviously vibrated off, hit the prop which chucked it into my helmet......Scary Stuff!!

There is a pretty big chunk out of it and it is split 9" about 3/4" deep.
Here are some pics of the damage. DOES ANYBODY HAVE A 60" WARP DRIVE BLADE FOR A PUSHER THEY WANT TO SELL????

[Timchick]

Glad to hear everything turned out as well as it did. I don't like it when someone is standing around talking to me when I'm doing my preflight. It's distracting.

[Hognose]

Glad you're OK, and sorry 'bout the mishap.

Warp Drive builds a darn strong prop, looks like. The wrench probably went nearly straight down after ringing your bell, but you'd be well advised to check your rotors and mast for any other signs of impact. With any luck, all it hit was the prop and your helmet (actually, what hit your helmet could have been a bit of prop, perhaps?)

cheers

-=K=-

[Passin' Thru]

Glad to hear everything turned out as well as it did. I don't like it when someone is standing around talking to me when I'm doing my preflight. It's distracting.
Tim, I have an anti-social attitude when I'm preflighting any aircraft. Until I'm finished, I don't have any friends! That aircraft has my total, undivided attention. If anyone wants to ask something, they can wait until I'm finished!

[cgmg]

My rule is stop wherever I'm at, and have the conversation.

Then, start over, at the beginning.

It's worked so far.

[enewbold]

DOES ANYBODY HAVE A 60" WARP DRIVE BLADE FOR A PUSHER THEY WANT TO SELL????
A. Check with Dofin Frits. He has a spare set of Warp Drive blades he might be convinced to sell. Phone: 850-587-2504. gyrocfi@aol.com

B. Also call Warp Drive and ask them if they can repair your blades. They are REALLY good at blade repairs (and fast, if you ask them to expedite).
Phone: 251-609-0969

=Ed=

[scottessex]

You can buy ONE blade from warp drive, just give them the serial number of your blade. Or send the whole prop in and have it balanced at the same time, They are great folks to deal with.

[JRB549]

I'm wondering, didnt you feel alot of vibration as soon as it hit the prop? I would think that with kind of hit you should have had something to warn you!

[Harry_S.]

I second everything that has been said here regarding interuptions, especially when making adjustments.

If you're interupted for any reason, I would suggest you start over and definitely perform a thorough PRE-FLIGHT brfore you turn the prop.

Ref. my last goof whrn I flooded the carb with coolant. :o


Cheers :)

[gyro]

you see that is the shocking part that I mentioned. How could the prop have received that much damage and not feel it. I did have on a jacket that was being rippled by the wind which was aready giving me a vibrating feeling. You know kind of like what a seat belt does when you roll the window down in a moving car. But all in all there was little no change at all, at least not enough to be alarmed.

[Doug Riley]

I've launched a few tools and parts into low earth orbit over the years. The collateral damage to your craft (or you) as the catapulted object leaves the area can be worse than the damage to the prop.

One precaution is to keep track of the tools you're using for the job. For example, on a gyro, the 7/16 combo wrench is constantly in use. Inventory the tools as they go back into the box at the end of the session. Surgeons do this routinely, for obvious reasons.

[Timchick]

Some mechanics use tool drawers that have foam cutouts for all the tools. If a tool is missing it's easy to notice.

[scottessex]

What i have learned, is NEVER EVER use the engine as a shelf to store tools, use the seat or your pockets, that way they are more visable, or at least uncomfortable when you sit. Seriously try to get in the habit of never plavcing anything on the engine.

[Hognose]

The military is totally anal on tool control... and we still occasionally wind up with a crescent wrench in the tail cone.

As long as there are humans there will be human error.

In Jumpmaster school, we inspect jumpers for proper equipment and rigging. SOP is to start over if interrupted rather than attempt to redo sequence. In flying, I find that if I interrupt a checklist I need to rerun it from the beginning, at least mentally. If I try to pick it up I miss something on the fault line... usually something embarrassing like turning the transponder on from standby, that will get me chided by the controller when I come up no squawk on his radar.

cheers

-=K=-

[NoWingsAttached]

I recommend the little plastic wrench holders you get at Sears, and also the metal strip racks for the sockets. It saves gobs of problems, and time. I never looked for another wrench or socket again after I invested a few bucks in those years ago.

[scottessex]

Like I said before, get out of the habit of using the engine for a shelf, Just habit after 6 years military and 15 commercial transport. Just FYI.