A Natural Enemy of Airplane Owners

Birds during nesting season. When you see a lot of bird shit on an airplane, the odds are good that those feathered devils have made themselves at home inside the airplane.

This is a low-wing Piper. The birds are in the tail.

They got into the wheel well of this Beechcraft Bonanza. Without looking, I'd guess that there is a lightening hole in a wing rib and that the birds are inside the wing itself.

The owner of this airplane made an attempt to block off the holes in the tail. The bastards got in anyway.

This is a short-wing Piper, one of the descendants of the J-3.

I've never had an issue with them getting into the tail of my Stinson. The elevator mechanism is right at the back of the fuselage, so there may not be enough room for them to feel comfortable about going in there. If I leave the engine cover off long enough for it to cool down, there's almost certainly going to be a bird setting up a home on top of the engine deck. So I put an engine cover on the cowling.

As you might suspect, it is very bad form to fly an airplane with a bird's nest in it.