Hawaiian Airlines Pitot Covers

Jimmy_Norton

Jimmy_Norton

Well-Known Member
I recently flew HAL from HNL, and I noticed that all their aircraft had pitot covers on until pretty close to departure time. I didn't notice exactly when they came off, and who did it. What is the reason for having them on, and who is responsible for making sure they are removed prior to departure?
 
There is a certain species of wasp out here that loves flying into the pitot tube and trying to build a nest. We had a series of mid to high speed aborts due to unreliable airspeed and the solution was to minimize the amount of time the pitot tubes are exposed on the ground.

Rampers remove them prior to pushback. It's a before start checklist item, and part of the required verbiage from the push crew when they report ready to push.
 
Jimmy_Norton said:
I recently flew HAL from HNL, and I noticed that all their aircraft had pitot covers on until pretty close to departure time. I didn't notice exactly when they came off, and who did it. What is the reason for having them on, and who is responsible for making sure they are removed prior to departure?
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its called a keyhole wasp. It’s a problem in Australia too.

 
BobDDuck said:
There is a certain species of wasp out here that loves flying into the pitot tube and trying to build a nest. We had a series of mid to high speed aborts due to unreliable airspeed and the solution was to minimize the amount of time the pitot tubes are exposed on the ground.

Rampers remove them prior to pushback. It's a before start checklist item, and part of the required verbiage from the push crew when they report ready to push.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the explanation!
 
BobDDuck said:
There is a certain species of wasp out here that loves flying into the pitot tube and trying to build a nest. We had a series of mid to high speed aborts due to unreliable airspeed and the solution was to minimize the amount of time the pitot tubes are exposed on the ground.

Rampers remove them prior to pushback. It's a before start checklist item, and part of the required verbiage from the push crew when they report ready to push.
Click to expand...

This is absolutely true I remember when we flew the 727 we always had a problem with wasp nests in the pitot tubes Fresno seemed to be the worst. I was always amazed at how fast they could get into the pitot tubes.
 
We had problems with wasps in pitot tubes on Cessnas on the Gulf Coast. Little bitty ones that would try to fill the pitot with plant pulp. We used covers but would run wires backwards up the drain holes and out the front of the pitot to make sure it was clear before starting up.
 
You might enjoy this recent article from Safety First, since it is tangentially related to this topic, and one of the events involves a -330 where the covers were not removed prior to departure.

Unreliable Airspeed at Takeoff | Safety First

Since the beginning of 2020, Airbus has received an increasing number of reports of unreliable airspeed events at takeoff due to Pitot probe obstruction. Despite the existing prevention means and the preflight exterior walkaround, takeoffs with obstructed air data probes may happen. This article...
safetyfirst.airbus.com safetyfirst.airbus.com

There's also a 320 Series OEB about unreliable airspeed on takeoff.
 
BobDDuck said:
There is a certain species of wasp out here that loves flying into the pitot tube and trying to build a nest. We had a series of mid to high speed aborts due to unreliable airspeed and the solution was to minimize the amount of time the pitot tubes are exposed on the ground.

Rampers remove them prior to pushback. It's a before start checklist item, and part of the required verbiage from the push crew when they report ready to push.
Click to expand...

The heat from the pitot tube doesn't kill the wasp?
 
NovemberEcho said:
even if they’re dead they and their nest is still in the pitot
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I came out to a 145 one day that had mud daubers, somehow, in both (Did that thing have 2? I don't remember. Maybe it was 2 of the 3?) pitot tubes. Both airspeed indicators were flagged and it fired the comparator monitor. They wound up taking both pitot heads off and were amazed that the little buggers had crawled into the tube AND past the bend to build their nests.

Couldn't see anything on the walkaround, oddly - they had crawled well in there to build their house.
 
Autothrust Blue said:
I came out to a 145 one day that had mud daubers, somehow, in both (Did that thing have 2? I don't remember. Maybe it was 2 of the 3?) pitot tubes. Both airspeed indicators were flagged and it fired the comparator monitor. They wound up taking both pitot heads off and were amazed that the little buggers had crawled into the tube AND past the bend to build their nests.

Couldn't see anything on the walkaround, oddly - they had crawled well in there to build their house.
Click to expand...
Mud daubers are the actual worst
 
Autothrust Blue said:
I came out to a 145 one day that had mud daubers, somehow, in both (Did that thing have 2? I don't remember. Maybe it was 2 of the 3?) pitot tubes. Both airspeed indicators were flagged and it fired the comparator monitor. They wound up taking both pitot heads off and were amazed that the little buggers had crawled into the tube AND past the bend to build their nests.

Couldn't see anything on the walkaround, oddly - they had crawled well in there to build their house.
Click to expand...

thisnis why I cringe any time I see people stick their finger into holes during preflights
 
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