Catto Nickel Leading Edge

[PilotjohnS]

Before after

Mine cracked on both in nearly the same location, which suggests a lot of flex at about mid-span. The repaired pro has a shorter NLE with prop tape on the inboard portion.

If you look at the before and after pictures in post 26, it appears they have changed the NLE. And with the just announced change in warrenty period, I am confident the problem is resolved and they will stand behind their product. I cant wait to get my hands on mine I have just ordered.

 

[weissfamily97]

This is an old post, but I just declared an emergency this evening due to the nickel leading edge departing the prop. I had cracks in the NLE and sent it to Catto in December 2022. The prop was completely overhauled at that time with new NLE, tape, and paint. Less than 2 years and around 150 hours later, it came off with no noticeable cracks in preflight.

 

[Nuisance]

In about 2005 I had a nickle leading edge depart my AeroComposites prop in flight. I made a safe landing but it was scary, the vibration was extreme. I had an O-360 with 10:1 pistons and Lightspeed ignition. I found later that Harzell had a prohibition of that combination in one of their popular props, because of the vibrations it caused. Hartzell at the time, and I think that Catto does it now, test a prop with numerous vibration sensors attached to the prop along the span, with various engines on various airframes to be sure they can take the various modes of vibrations and harmonics that are induced along the span of the blade. You can imagine there are many possible combinations.