I was taking my mom up to fly and before I even took off my stall warning was going off. I took an instructor with me because I wanted to insure safety. We turned back to the ramp to check it and the warning went off. So we thought possibly a bug flew in and then out and were okay to go up. I was coming in for my approach to land and the stall warning went off again, I tried to disconnect the autopilot to hand fly and it would not let me. I gave controls to instructor and he said to hold the Auto pilot button down the entire time to land. So we did. We turned the engine off, instructor looked in the stall port hole and saw a tiny little inch worm. So he suctioned it out. We went back up and as I was flying the 2nd approach in, stall warning went off again. He took over we landed took to the mechanic and he found a dirt dobber nest. I have never had that happen in the last 4 years of flying. What do people do with that problem, to keep them out? I was thinking maybe some bright tape while not flying and take it off during preflight? What would you suggest?
Thanks,
Carrie
I always cover the pitot tube when not in flight — even in the hangar.
She is talking about the STALL WARNING hole, not the pitot tube (which would have resulted in other symptoms).
Trying to phrase this without sounding preachy, cause I’m guilty of knowledge atrophy myself… it is really important to understand the autopilot failure modes and how to override them. In this case, I presume it was ESP trying to keep you out of the “stall” - not something you want to be fighting with near the ground. Might be a good time to skim the POH as bedtime material refresher (and a reminder I need to do the same).
Glad it was ultimately a non-issue!
I knew I shouldn’t respond before my first cup of coffee. 
you can use a bright colored golf tee with a “remove before flight” flag attached to keep the insects out.
So do I. Even inside my hangar pitot tube covered and cowl plugs in place.
Great idea!
@Carrie_Smith, thanks for sharing. Do you fly the FIKI SR22T? If so, it seems this cover won’t work. I’m surprised we don’t have a gadget to cover the stall vane and opening.
SR20
Where is it? Below the stall warning vane? Mine is an SR22 G6.
A long time ago with our first plane, a Grumman Cheetah, I took off for an IFR/IMC flight from Boulder. After a while in IMC I glanced out my left wing and saw the wing collapsing as the fuel pump was feeding from that wing. I switched to the right tank, and in a short while the wing popped back in shape.
After landing I saw a mud dauber in the left NACA fuel vent underneath the wing.
Of course once in Virginia I also approached our hangar and heard chirping. Inside my Seneca’s engine cowl was a nest of 4 starlings, which subsequently we ended up raising and giving them their first flight lessons. I then kept the cowl plugs in while in my hangar.
Most of the time I now keep my pitot covers, and jet engine covers, on the plane in the hangar.
There is no “opening”, FIKI SR22s are equipped with a heated lift transducer, there is no need to cover it to prevent contamination.
Interesting, didn’t know. I always assumed there’s a small opening there.
The older models like my G2 have that hole for the stall warning on the right wing
I remember the hole in the Cessna 172s I trained on. There was also a balloon like gizmo to suction the hole and suck out any debris. Glad my 22 doesn’t.
Rule of thumb: If you are NOT a FIKI aircraft, and you get a stall warning when you know you shouldn’t, chances are you have insect debris inside your stall warning air inlet. And it’s usually farther up the hose where you can’t look in and see it. Have a technician blow out the air hose from inside the aircraft and you’ll almost certainly hear a POP when the line clears. And when you say to yourself, the plane has only been outside overnight, that’s all it takes.
Yup. Plastic tee better than wood IMHO. Need to make another one. Strong wind at Chatham MA blew it away. (Or some Cirrus driver needed a new one.) 
