Sorry to do this Tony, but I have to question your glide descent figure with a
windmilling prop! Both our demonstrators are fitted with Airmaster C/S props and
their performance is without question. But the figure of 1100 fpm descent with
a windmilling prop surprises me. I always demonstrate the aircrafts glide
performance on customer flights and consistently show 600 - 700 fpm at 75 knots
with an idling engine. This reduces by around 100 - 150 fpm if the engine is
stopped. I haven't tried the test with the prop feathered yet but can only
imagine
that figure will improve further!
Regards
Mark Waite
p.s. Thanks for the pictures of you parked on the beach - you lucky sod!!
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Tony S. Krzyzewski <tonyk@kaon.co.nz>
> > Subject: [Flying] Best Glide
> >
> >
> > >
> > > Yesterday we did some glide testing on ZK-UBD and ended up with some
> > > rather interesting results. Remember that ZK-UBD is a Classic
monowheel,
> > > has no fairings, and that all the tests were being performed at MAUW.
> > > We were able to repeatedly show that the rate of descent improved by
> > > around 90% when we feathered the prop compared with the engine just
> > > idling across a wide range of speeds. On ZK-UDB we ended up with a
best
> > > glide speed of 70 knots IAS at 520fpm with the prop feathered. With
the
> > > engine idling the rate of descent at 70kias was 1100 fpm.
> > >
> > > For those with Airmaster featherable controllers this is worth
> > > remembering if you ever have an engine failure. It may mean the
> > > difference between reaching that paddock and not reaching it!
> > >
> > > Tony
> > >
> > >
> > > The Europa Forum is supported by Aviators Network UK
<info@avnet.co.uk>
> >
>
|