Bird season

[bagarre]

Spring is around the corner and, for those that tie outside, that means bird nests.

I'm trying to get in front of it by stuffing foam all through the airplane but, I'm curious what other people are doing to deal with the problem.

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

Like you I've had the early cowl on both my 170s. I use an inspection plant with the spring clips from a fabric covered airplane to block the sump inlet. I cut some screen from and old screen door to a square the right size to weave in the cowl openings to block them. I use screen for this in case they get left in. I'd like to say that couldn't happen but I know better from personal experience.

I always position the at an angle about 1:00 or 11:00 o clock so the birds have little convenient resting area. For years I'd take a 20oz plastic soda bottle with a loop of safety wire around the neck to hang it from the gasolator. I like think the wind blowing it and or maybe noise blowing over the open bottle kept birds out from under the cowl. Maybe I was lucky but it worked for me. The bottle then doubled as my fuel sump container.

My current partner has a bib made of rag cloth attached to two pieces of plastic water pipe. One end of the pipe rests on top of the landing gear. The other ends are hung from heavy nylon string slung over the cowl. The bib rag material covers the entire lower hole in the cowl at least good enough to deter birds.

In addition to this I like to take a small custom cut piece of plastic/nylon door screen and glue it into the wing root vent holes to block bees and hornets from getting in them. I use a few small daps of silicone for the glue but to tell you the truth I've put them in with now glue by carefully feeding the screen in between the wing skin and the inlet tube. Others have simply places plastic pot scrubbers in the inlet tubes which keep out the bugs but let the air through.

[bagarre]

I ended up cutting a piece of 6" thick foam to fit the lower cowl opening. The only issue I see there is water retention when it rains. The foam is going to soak up the rain.

What about the tail of the plane? I've been told that the birds will make a nest in any opening bigger than two fingers....that's a lot of openings on a 170.

I like the screen idea for the inlets. I was going to make some nice aluminum covers for that and the sump. Life is so busy tho, I'd probably have them done by next season

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

In ten years tying a 170 outside in E. PA I've never had a bird go for the tail openings though that doesn't mean they won't. But I'd be least concerned.

Generally, they'll go for much easier openings. The trick is making the obvious openings on your airplane harder than the openings on the airplane tied down next to yours.

Some folks have been known to trap someone else's airplane in their hanger for the sole purpose of attracting birds, mice and mud daubers. A bit extreme but effective.

[GAHorn]

Plastic pot/dish-scrubbers (brand name of "Tuffy" but I use cheap copy-cats) can be stuffed into wing-root vents, and also the extra-large ones (or several small ones) make good sump opening plugs below the prop. Use brightly-colored ones to catch your attention during pre-flight. (I use yellow.)

Plastic corrugated real-estate/politial/"we-buy-ugly-houses" signs (picked up for fee alongside the road) also can be cut to pattern to fit the cowl openings (which does double-duty to remove those damn signs from the road right-of-ways where they were illegally placed)

Political signs can be cut up to make the best anti-bird deterrent cowl-plugs.