One situation that I can think of, that is very likely to occur would be flying into a swarm of bugs. Even a coarse screen such as Al has installed could easily become clogged with dead bugs choking off all intake air and causing the engine to stop running.

 

Hard to imagine where I could run into such a density of bugs; however, if I have a theory that they would not get in the intake.  The scoop is located behind the maximum diameter of the fuselage.  The bugs (that didn’t get smashed) would be accelerated outward away from the fuselage as the plane passed by, and because of their greater momentum (than the air), would not come back toward the surface sufficiently to enter the scoop as the fuselage converges.

 

OK; at least that’s the theory.  I can only find out by putting the plane in a wind tunnel and releasing a swarm of bees J.

 

Oh; BTW Jerry, the air here in coastal CA where the prevailing breeze is off the ocean has very little dust.  And the Velocity will never (I hope) take off from a dirt strip.

 

Al