Rotorway Forums

Something that I often see is the leading edge of the main rotor blades with chips in the paint. Each paint chip and bug splat disrupts the airflow over and under the blades causing parasitic drag that requires more engine power to overcome. I always sand the leading edge of the blades to keep them smooth and often clean the bug splats off to keep the blades flying efficiently. This photo is of my own rotor blades with hundreds of hours on them.

Here is another example.

Leading edge tape of a dozen different kinds have been tried over the years. I won’t even begin to rehash this subject . Some will destroy lift, while others have claimed success, sanding and cleaning regularly is one way to handle the condition.

i also recently saw a military helicopter using tape on their tail rotor leading edges (all the way to the tips!!!) and the general consensus was it was trash since when it did eventually perforate it did so assymetrically causing havoc on the tail balance. imagine this on the main blades affecting blade track aswell.

Doing flight training I have experienced times when we could not maintain a hover due to insufficient lift by the main rotor blades. After cleaning off bug splats and sanding the paint chips on the leading edge of all blades to smooth paint and metal leading edges it made a huge difference. A coat of wax can also help. After cleaning up the leading edges we could maintain a good hover height and continue flight training.

(07-14-2026, 12:16 PM)Orv Neisingh Wrote: [ -> ]Doing flight training I have experienced times when we could not maintain a hover due to insufficient lift by the main rotor blades. After cleaning off bug splats and sanding the paint chips on the leading edge of all blades to smooth paint and metal leading edges it made a huge difference. A coat of wax can also help. After cleaning up the leading edges we could maintain a good hover height and continue flight training.

Good one Orv,
I do sand my leading edges peordicaly.

Has anyone ever use Endura paint for the main and tail rotor blades? It is pretty durable and I wonder if it would stand up better to the harsh eroding power of flying dust???