"Steve Hagar" <hagargs@earthlink.net> wrote:
My concern is the greater suseptibility of a prop
> strike with the larger diameter disk. I am anticipating a ride on the
> "wild side" while getting used to the monowheel landing configuration >
> during
initial flights.
>
Good point, Steve. I think that is very valid, as the monowheel needs all the
clearance it can get. We were actually thinking of going with a simple wood
fixed
pitch to start out and get the feel of the plane, and then install a variable,
having made all the prior installation of the controls for the variable.
> At Sun and Fun I saw the Airmaster prop and was fairly impressed. Another
> Europa owner swears by it. Being electrically activated you are not constantly
> running a pump. They are supposed to offer a fully feathering model shortly so
> you can feather it with a totally dead engine. Handily increasing engine
> out glide (theoretically).
The Airmaster is on our short list. There are several good props available it
seems, all a little different. Again, with the electric prop, one may need more
alternator capacity.
One concern I have with the geared Rotax engine
> is being able to air start a dead engine with a bad starter. Being able to
> dither the pitch may be of some use in an emergency to get the prop turning in
> the air. The warp drive prop blades are also pretty easy to come by when
> dings occur.
I think if you can fully feather a prop, even with the geared engine, as you
bring
it back into running range, the prop will develop significant torque to get
the engine spinning. I'd feel better with a feathering prop, that's for sure,
as with a standard prop, even in the coarse setting, the prop blades are pretty
well stalled if the prop isn't rotating, and won't give you much rotational
energy.
Regarding the starter, I wonder if that's much of an issue? Reason why I say so
is these small permanent magnet units tend to be really reliable. I'm on the
original unit on my Saturn SL with 138,000 miles on it. I figure it's got at
least seven or eight thousand starts on it. That's a lot of short flights
before
you get to a 1500 hour TBO.
Chris
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