A few weeks ago I had Graham Singleton visit me here in Germany. Of course I
had to show him my plane, N81EU. First thing he said when he walked up to her
was "this plane must be slow !". Well - he was right, but did he really have to
say
it first thing ?!?
Anyway, he told me that my prop was wrong - it had the wide blades and was a
Well, not only did he point out my weakest point, he also had a fix in mind. He
told
me that he had testflown a 914 powered Europa in Holland that had a thin-bladed
Warpdrive.
to come here to swap props.
Well, today I finally had the weather to testfly her. Listen:
On my first first flight with the "old" prop she gave me 85 kn in cruise. After
I played
with the prop angle, I could improve it to 100 kn cruise. But that was it. All
further
increases had to come by tough aerodynamic work such as tapes over slots or so.
I was proven wrong: I got another 15 (!) kn with the new prop. 15 knots by just
listening
to Graham and swapping a prop. How is that ? I am very happy and all set to work
on
those 5 knots to my target speed of 120 kn cruise. Thanks Graham and Henk !
Sincerely,
<Thomas, kit # 81>
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