Stranded in Midland - Prince prop damaged

Hello everyone I need some help.

I just arrived in Midland for the CAF airshow and found a good sized chunk (1/2" wide by 1/4" in deep) was missing from the leading edge of the prop on my -4. It's a Prince P-Tip composite/wood prop. The likely culprit was a rock picked up while taxiing over a sparse grass area with mixed gravel. It can't be filed down, so I'll either need a repair or a loaned prop to get home by Monday. If anyone has any advice on quick repairs, or if you are local and can assist I will greatly appreciate. I'll be at the show all day tomorrow. 513-227-1425

Thanks!
Ryan

Ryan, sorry to hear of your problem, wish I had a loaner.

I recommend you post the engine, current prop specs, and any other details that may be pertinent, might help someone decide if they can be of assistance to you.

Good luck, sounds like more than duct tape needed here

Ryan - call Mark Haskins at 432-661-3380. He's a local A&P and EAA TC, and I know he'll be at the airshow today and available. Tell him I sent you. If you get bored and need some diversion at some point while waiting on work or parts, give me a shout - I'm in Midland, I'll show you some great Mexican food places and probably try to show you my fuse going together...

Greg Niehues 432-631-1313

I've pulled the prop and I have a ride home, but I'll need temporary shelter for the airplane until I can come back with a good prop. I'm still accepting offers for a loaner if there are any available locally. Will compensate. 160hp O-320 E3D (FP), short gear, current prop specs are 68"x76.

Much thanks to those who have offered input on the matter.

Ryan
513-227-1425

Upon close inspection and checking the Prince website we were able to determine two things:

- The prop is not composite as I thought, there is no composite material visible in the damage. It is wood with thick epoxy leading edge protection, with Prince's standard gray paint for wood props.

- It appears that the leading edge protection has done it's job, as there is no visible damage to the wood which just barely shows through underneath the gouge in the epoxy.

I'm thinking that this means there is no structural damage to the prop and that it would be flyable on a temporary basis if the missing piece was filled in with epoxy filler and then sanded down. A few here have suggested this course of action but I was skeptical until I read Prince's description of how the prop was made. Any thoughts?

I have fixed many prop dings on canard aircraft with the fast JB Weld. Sand down all sharp areas, clean real good and patch with JB. When it hardens you can use a file to finish it out. A 1/4 by 1/2 inch gouge is not really that big if it is all in the leading edge protection.

Lynne

Very repairable as described with JB Weld. Have the prop dynamically balanced when you are all done repairing and repainting.

We went with the JB-Weld solution and it worked well. It was a simple repair, the problem wasn't bad at all once I figured out how that prop was designed. After waiting on the weather for a long time we had a blast on the flight home. Thanks to everyone who provided support, including the phone calls, and I'm sorry to Greg for not making it out to see the project. The CAF provided much needed hangar hospitality and some tools for finishing the job. I have some photos from the event that I will post later this week.

ryan said:

We went with the JB-Weld solution and it worked well. It was a simple repair, the problem wasn't bad at all once I figured out how that prop was designed. After waiting on the weather for a long time we had a blast on the flight home. Thanks to everyone who provided support, including the phone calls, and I'm sorry to Greg for not making it out to see the project. The CAF provided much needed hangar hospitality and some tools for finishing the job. I have some photos from the event that I will post later this week.

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Good to hear, glad it worked out.

Kinda nice to have VAF out there aint it??

ryan said:

We went with the JB-Weld solution and it worked well. It was a simple repair, the problem wasn't bad at all once I figured out how that prop was designed. After waiting on the weather for a long time we had a blast on the flight home. Thanks to everyone who provided support, including the phone calls, and I'm sorry to Greg for not making it out to see the project. The CAF provided much needed hangar hospitality and some tools for finishing the job. I have some photos from the event that I will post later this week.

Click to expand...

We'll catch ya next time you're out this way. I hung my firewall this evening...

Mike S said:

Kinda nice to have VAF out there aint it??

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Thanks to VAF, I think my airplane is able to fly a lot more often than it would without this resource. It's safer, too.


Here's the damage to the epoxy leading edge.


This is the rough terrain that caused the damage. It should have been fairly obvious that this was a bad idea, but when I was marshaled there at dusk after a three hour flight, I made a poor decision to keep the engine turning when I did a 180 to park.


We're re-installing the prop as the hangar party winds down in the background. There is a lot of interest in what we're doing, of course, so I'm glad to have my A&P buddy there with me. We don't actually have to take the prop off for the repair, but we did.




Photo-op on the way back




VFR between the layers (talking and squawking). The bottom layer broke up about 30 miles from home.


Some other photos from the airshow




In-flight photo credits go to my innovative roommate/navigator/NFO in the back. He used a leg strap to mount the 396 so that he'd have hands free for flying, shooting, and reading charts.

Ryan, nice looking 4 you have there