17-year cicadas of any concern to aircraft?

As a relatively newly-certificated pilot (two years ago), I am curious
about the upcoming emergence of the seventeen-year cicada in the northeast
and midwest US later this May.

Are there any hazards to aircraft associated with these insects, either on
the ground or in the air?

--
Peter

"Peter R." wrote in message
...
As a relatively newly-certificated pilot (two years ago), I am curious
about the upcoming emergence of the seventeen-year cicada in the northeast
and midwest US later this May.

Are there any hazards to aircraft associated with these insects, either on
the ground or in the air?


Flying through a large cloud of insects can clog your air filter and cover
your windshield with impenetrable goo. They can build up on the wings and
reduce lift and increase drag. It can take days to clean the bugs off the
airplane.

Some areas seem to have a permanent haze of bugs. Western Kansas comes to
mind. The worst I have encountered was in October of 2001. One of my
students had just bought a new Cessna 172 and we were ferrying it back to
Bremerton from the factory at Independence. We landed at Liberty for fuel
and flew through an incredible number of bugs. We could hardly see the
runway when we touched down. The entire airplane was coated with bug guts
which quickly hardened into a yellow and red layer of shellac. It was truly
awful.

"C J Campbell" wrote in message

Flying through a large cloud of insects can clog your air filter and cover
your windshield with impenetrable goo. They can build up on the wings and
reduce lift and increase drag. It can take days to clean the bugs off the
airplane.

The old RV trick is to cover the front of the vehicle with PAM so you can
wipe the guts off before they dry and stick to the paint. Can you do this
with aircraft?

-c

"gatt" wrote in message
...

"C J Campbell" wrote in message

Flying through a large cloud of insects can clog your air filter and
cover
your windshield with impenetrable goo. They can build up on the wings
and
reduce lift and increase drag. It can take days to clean the bugs off
the
airplane.

The old RV trick is to cover the front of the vehicle with PAM so you can
wipe the guts off before they dry and stick to the paint. Can you do this
with aircraft?

Silicon sprays work well and are more durable.

Some areas seem to have a permanent haze of bugs.

Try landing at any Mississippi valley airport (Prairie du Chien comes
especially to mind) on a hot summer's evening.

You can practically hear the bugs on short final...

Which is why we use Lemon Pledge on the leading edges. The bugs just wipe
right off! ;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

In article QySnc.66111$Ik.4885529@attbi_s53, Jay Honeck wrote:
Which is why we use Lemon Pledge on the leading edges. The bugs just wipe
right off! ;-)

I agree with that - before every flight in the bug season, I'd Pledge
the leading edges/struts on the C140. Made it much easier to get the
Houston goo off as well as the bugs (just the Houston air would turn the
leading edges brown with this horrible gooey brown goo).

Had a slightly different problem, but fortunately not a sticky one last
weekend. The Auster is bright yellow, and it attracted a phenomenal
number of insects. Fortunately, they all blew off on the first takeoff.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

C J Campbell wrote:

Some areas seem to have a permanent haze of bugs. Western Kansas comes to
mind. The worst I have encountered was in October of 2001. One of my
students had just bought a new Cessna 172 and we were ferrying it back to
Bremerton from the factory at Independence. We landed at Liberty for fuel
and flew through an incredible number of bugs. We could hardly see the
runway when we touched down. The entire airplane was coated with bug guts
which quickly hardened into a yellow and red layer of shellac. It was truly
awful.

Rain X on the window and a good coat of an appropriate wax on the rest
of the plane can make getting those bugs of a LOT easier.

Chris W

--
Bring Back the HP 15C
http://hp15c.org:8080

"Chris W" wrote in message
news:UpXnc.57890$NZ4.44281@lakeread05...
C J Campbell wrote:

Some areas seem to have a permanent haze of bugs. Western Kansas comes
to
mind. The worst I have encountered was in October of 2001. One of my
students had just bought a new Cessna 172 and we were ferrying it back
to
Bremerton from the factory at Independence. We landed at Liberty for
fuel
and flew through an incredible number of bugs. We could hardly see the
runway when we touched down. The entire airplane was coated with bug
guts
which quickly hardened into a yellow and red layer of shellac. It was
truly
awful.

Rain X on the window and a good coat of an appropriate wax on the rest
of the plane can make getting those bugs of a LOT easier.


Rain-X is labeled not for use on plastic. It will eventually fog the
plastic. There are other products that are safe to use on airplane windows,
however.

On Mon, 10 May 2004 10:25:49 -0400, Peter R.
wrote:

As a relatively newly-certificated pilot (two years ago), I am curious
about the upcoming emergence of the seventeen-year cicada in the northeast
and midwest US later this May.

Are there any hazards to aircraft associated with these insects, either on
the ground or in the air?

I've lived on the east coast all my life and have never seen clouds of
Cicada's, ever. There have been summers when they were a bit noisier
than others, but never clouds of them.

You don't want to hit one of those things riding a motorcycle without
a full face mask though...

My experience has been that Cicada's don't fly very high, they travel
from tree to tree.

Corky Scott

) wrote:

My experience has been that Cicada's don't fly very high, they travel
from tree to tree.

So, in other words, stay out of the trees and we will be safe.

Thanks, Corky, for the experience.

--
Peter