Roarks
Active Member
I'm honestly a low time pilot. I have a hard time wrapping my brain around constant speed propellers for some reason. I've flown aerobatics with one... I understand it helps keep from overspeed doing maneuvers... but adjusting one for cruise flight is something I've never done... thus ignorance. Tried one in flight sim... and seems like I even touch the prop lever I end up lagging the engine and loosing airspeed.
That said... I am a helicopter pilot too... and those make perfect sense to me. Engine RPM is governed or set with throttle, and we control pitch directly.
So while sitting in a Propeller class (A&P) I learned about 2 position props. Sounds amazing. Apparently spitfires were like this and there is a company Hoffman that makes one.
So this all comes down to $$$. a nice CS prop costs what $15k? Now there are oil seals, a prop governor and a whole bunch of other stuff that needs $ maintenance. I'm honestly okay with a fixed pitch prop, but this two speed prop business sounds cool! So thinking about the mechanism... Why not make the pitch infinitely variable so you can tune it in? Seems mechanically simpler than a discrete "two position".
The mechanism is fairly simple. It could be a simple lever in the cockpit... maybe even a collective/throttle like a helicopter... which really is instinct now.
Takeoff and landing would obviously be low pitch... probably even rig up a low throttle+not low pitch=alarm. Apparently some spitfire pilots had issues with this.
I like mechanical simple things. I bet I could make it fairly easily=cheap...This sounds amazing to me what am I missing?
That said... I am a helicopter pilot too... and those make perfect sense to me. Engine RPM is governed or set with throttle, and we control pitch directly.
So while sitting in a Propeller class (A&P) I learned about 2 position props. Sounds amazing. Apparently spitfires were like this and there is a company Hoffman that makes one.
So this all comes down to $$$. a nice CS prop costs what $15k? Now there are oil seals, a prop governor and a whole bunch of other stuff that needs $ maintenance. I'm honestly okay with a fixed pitch prop, but this two speed prop business sounds cool! So thinking about the mechanism... Why not make the pitch infinitely variable so you can tune it in? Seems mechanically simpler than a discrete "two position".
The mechanism is fairly simple. It could be a simple lever in the cockpit... maybe even a collective/throttle like a helicopter... which really is instinct now.
Takeoff and landing would obviously be low pitch... probably even rig up a low throttle+not low pitch=alarm. Apparently some spitfire pilots had issues with this.
I like mechanical simple things. I bet I could make it fairly easily=cheap...This sounds amazing to me what am I missing?