Tried cleaning a pitot tube with a paperclip last week

I was in a rush before a test flight and figured a paperclip would be fine to clear out a blocked pitot tube. Turns out I scratched the inside just enough that the readings were off by 3 knots for the whole flight. Anyone else learned the hard way why they make those plastic cleaning kits?

2 comments

2 Comments

david375d ago

Plastic kits are cheap insurance against that exact mistake.

henderson.wesley4d ago

and honestly that same logic applies to way more than just kits lol. like i keep a spare phone charger in my car and a backup battery pack in my bag just in case. same thing with cooking - i always have a frozen pizza in the freezer because one time i tried making a fancy dinner and burnt it so bad i had to order takeout. little failsafes like that just save you from the headache of messing up something bigger. it's like having a cheap safety net for everyday life mistakes.