Thanks. As usual the big R comes through. I've seen the phenomenon but
it's not bothersome to someone knowing the great strength and elasticity
modulus of carbon fiber. Where is testimony that a blade has failed?
There is gossip about an Ivoprop but is it true?

A friend of mine has a 4 blade on his 180hp Lyc Rebel on floats. He
flies all year including a annual trip to the Arctic (he's located
about 100miles north of the US border so this isn't a quick trip)

He had to land once on a lake with about 3-4 foot rollers when heavy
(2K+) and he had spray coming over the windshield etc. Either the
prop dipped into the water or something as afterwards he found
one blade cracked along the root holder. He maintains his machine like
a certified so he grounded the airplane and was on to warp about it
pdq. They said he could fly with it as is ie it was still servicable
and it wouldn't hurt anything. I think he said he only flew it a few
minutes before getting too paranoid about it. He called warp and they
replaced the blade for free. They said at that time his was the first
damaged blade they had seen and that was in 2000. He still swears by
it even though I think he's thinking about a hoffman or the like so
he can nudge closer to mach 1 on floats...

Even under owner maintained you won't be able to swap a warp for a
certified blade. The ministry will tend to frown on such things. You
could get a stc and hope they will let you spec a warp but as its not
certified you are going to have to be reaaal lucky to get it through.
The fee is $900 loonies plus engineering fees which means it will
probably be cheaper to buy a new plane by the end f it all ;-]

Q