Bird Strike!!!

As many people know, birds are a huge problem for airplanes and aiports. Here is an example why. Just as we were taking off out of Gaspe this morning a few seagulls flew right in front of us. We heard a big thump but everything seemed to be ok so we continued on to our destination.



When we arrived we had maintenance do a thorough inspection. He found a dent in one of our propeller blades.

There were also pieces of bone or beak lodged in the rubber edge of the blade. Not so good! These blades are made from carbon fibre. They have a metal front on half of it to prevent wear and a rubber front on the other half which is electrically heated to prevent ice build-up. Each blade weighs about 80 lbs. There turned out to be enough damage to ground the airplane. The blade had to be changed. So after waiting for the part to be flown in, the blade changing process and the ground test, we had a 6 hour wait in the ever-so-exciting Quebec City airport. Time for some poutine I guess.



Almost finished.........just the spinner cap to go on.
More adventures of Captain blog to come soon.