Paint on the leading edge blades.

[Orv Neisingh]

Something that I often see is the leading edge of the main rotor blades with chips in the paint. Each paint chip and bug splat disrupts the airflow over and under the blades causing parasitic drag that requires more engine power to overcome. I always sand the leading edge of the blades to keep them smooth and often clean the bug splats off to keep the blades flying efficiently. This photo is of my own rotor blades with hundreds of hours on them.

Here is another example.