Hi Linda, I've never had this problem (hangar), but those that do are probably looking for pictures ;<)
WRB -- On May 29, 2010, at 17:57, Linda Abrams wrote: > Some time back, one of the forum members posted that birds were > pooping on his 'Coupe, and sought a way to keep them off. My 'Coupe > is tied down outside and had the same problem: our coastal area's > birds seem to particularly like perching on the top of the rudders > and making a mess down on the elevator. I've finally devised an easy > & inexpensive device that seems effective in keeping them off: > I took a length of ordinary foam pipe insulation (the kind that has > a pre-cut slit along one side and costs about 97 cents) and cut ~1' > lengths. I took 2 of those, opened up the slit, and pushed some > stainless steel wire nails through at various angles *from the inside > to the outside*, so that the nails point up and out when the > insulation piece is horizontal. The nails make a sharp & bristly > inhospitable surface when the length of foam is pushed onto the top > of the rudder/vertical stabilizer via the slit. > To keep the foam piece on at our windy airport, I used exterior- > grade heavy-duty Romex (coated electrical wire) to form a sort of zig- > zag clamp over the top of each piece, and extending down the sides of > the vertical stab. Caution: most Romex tries to return to straight > & will not hold a shape, however lengths of the exterior grade can be > formed like giant pipe cleaners to hold a shape, and can be bent to > hold the foam-nail assembly onto the top of the vertical stab/ > rudder. The tips of each Romex "clamp" should be bent back or tool- > dipped to avoid the wires inside the Romex scratching the plane's > paint. > After a week or so, I did notice that one of these homemade bird > barriers did have some pecking marks in the foam, presumably from an > evicted & disgruntled bird, but after that, they've left it alone. > Total construction costs were about $5 and 5 minutes, so if they > eventually disintegrate, they're easily replaced. Removing and > replacing them gets added to my pre-flight and post-flight checklists. > > Linda > N3437H (Sky Sprite) > L.A.
