Getting Bugs in Your Pitot

January 2017 - Jeff Seaborn’s article last month about getting bug squash while landing on grass led to a discussion and a realization. Your editor changed from the relatively simple Van’s style pitot made out of ¼-inch tubing to a Dynon AOA heated pitot. In doing so, the little air pressure-operated pitot protector being used had to be sacrificed and a fancier rubber cover was bought with a piece of red remove-before-flight tape attached.

You may remember in the July 2016 editorial I mentioned that a bug had found its way into my pitot and part of the reason may have been the upgrade to the heated pitot. That air flow-operated pitot cover may have been doing a better job of protecting the pitot from getting bugs in it on grass when taxiing or on roll-out. Has anyone tried this protector on the Dynon heated pitot? Can it be made to fit? We’d love to hear from you or from anyone who has a comment to make on dealing with bugs in the pitot.