Mechanics,
Birds love to make nests any place they can. On the Chinook, birds target the rotor head.
So in the battle to stop birds from nesting on your rotor head, it’s in your best interest to pull out those rotor head covers. Use the cloth cover, NSN 1730-01-455-4997, or the nylon cover, NSN 1730-01-538-5186, when aircraft sits on the flight line.
Use rotor head covers to protect against birds building nests
Birds have no preference for what materials they use to build nests. It can be scraps of safety wire, straw, and the usual grass, their favorite. All nest material is a potential FOD problem.
If you see nest-making material around your Chinook during your inspections, go top-side and eyeball the rotor head for stowaway birds.
Also keep in mind that bird droppings are corrosive and messy. When cleaning the rotor head area where birds have perched and pitched their nest, always wear gloves and any necessary breathing devices. Bird waste can eat through paint, wiring and insulation. And it corrodes metal. If bird droppings are splattered all over the rotor head, wash your helicopter.
As you battle the birds, the best defense against them making a nest mess on your Chinook’s rotor head is to keep the rotor head covers on whenever the aircraft sits on the flight line.