Helicopter IMC through …. Locusts??

We had something similar happen when I was working ground crew for a cropdus... ahem... aerial applicator ~20 years ago. We were spraying an outbreak of soybean aphids and those little buggers would hover shortly above the crop, right about the height of the spraying pass. Being ground crew, I had the pleasure of cleaning the windscreens while loading and fueling the planes. It was nasty! You basically had to scrape the green goo off of the windscreen and THEN you could actually clean it. I Actually had a pilot come back and land WAY before he should have. He got onto the taxiway and stopped and he started getting out of the plane. I hopped in the truck to go see what was wrong. Got out there and he was cleaning his windscreen. It was covered so bad, he couldn't see. He said he was looking out the side window just to land. Those particular planes didn't have a windshield wiper - just a couple of spray nozzles to spray solution onto the windshield which were pretty much useless once the green goo started sticking. We went through a LOT of paper towels and all different types of window cleaner trying to find something that would prevent the bugs from sticking so bad.
 
Next time after flying through bugs, fly through a moderate rain shower...
 
Had that happen once on a motorcycle. We’re riding along on our Goldwings doing 75 or so, there’s a buzz, windshield goes green. It was a swarm of grasshoppers. Fortunately I had the proper height windshield - top of the shield at about the tip of the nose, no higher - and could see over it. For months afterward, I was cleaning bits of grasshopper out from every nook and cranny on the bike.
 
Jackson Pollock would be jealous!
 
It looks like a spraying helicopter. They've been spraying locusts in Africa, etc. for decades. But usually when they run into bugs like that they will fly out of it as it can damage things vs simply a long clean up.
 
Lndwarrior said:
Check the air filter ...
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Most likely it’s clean. The Astar’s filter is behind the mast and points upward. Anything impacting in forward flight such as ice or bugs will mostly adhere the forward facing surfaces.

Now the blades? There’s gonna be some loss in performance. That many bug strikes would be like flying in light icing.
 
Velocity173 said:
The Astar’s filter is behind the mast and points upward.
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But they will plug the oil cooler rather quickly and enter the fresh air grill. So if you ever try this in your 407 be sure to tape up your air grills on the nose. ;)
 
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