Table of Contents

Table of Contents 1
Drilling, Riveting, Sheetmetal 3
Aircraft Propellers 3
Alternators, Antennas & Lights 3
Human Factors, Decision Making 3
Everything On The Nose 3
Brakes, Hydraulics & More 3
Setting Angle, Thrust & Pitch 3
Keep In Good Shape 3
Preflight & Cruise Checks 3
Moving The Blades 3
Feather & Reverse Pitch 3
Aerodynamics, I 3
Basic Propeller Design 3
Aerodynamics, II 3
Power conversion 3
Blade angle 3
Thrust creation 3
Fixed pitch 4
Constant speed 4
Propeller control 4
Written by EAI. 4
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Building Kit Aircraft

Drilling, Riveting, Sheetmetal
Aircraft Electrical Systems
Alternators, Antennas & Lights
Aircraft Propellers
Proficient Airmanship
Human Factors, Decision Making
Firewall Foreward
Everything On The Nose
Without a method of converting the power produced by the engine into useful thrust an
Secondary Systems
Brakes, Hydraulics & More aircraft would just be sitting still and creating a lot of noise and not get anywhere.
Firewall Forward

Love European
Piston Engine Details In the past, all kinds of different propeller design were
Engine Performance used: sometimes flat wooden blades, from one bladed
Turbo's & Exhaust Systems

Lubrication Systems
Travel? to multiple blade models rotating at various speeds.

Engine Ignition Models Read this blog about all that Until it was realized that a propeller is just like a wing
Fuel System Parts this amazing continent has to
creating lift. But instead of carrying the aircraft it
Aircraft Propellers offer!
displaces a volume of air backwards. Albeit slowly,
Experimental Engines
compared to a pure JET engine, which displaces a
Aircraft Propellers small volume of air at very high speeds.
Basic Propeller Design
Setting Angle, Thrust & Pitch
Propeller Maintenance
The aerodynamic laws that apply to wings are valid for
Keep In Good Shape
propellers too, only not in a horizontal plane but in a vertical motion and so thrust (lift) is created and the
Propeller Operation
Preflight & Cruise Checks aircraft is able to move forward, and after reaching lift-off speed it will get airborne.
Hydraulic & Electric Control
Moving The Blades
Special Operations These pages shine a small light on propeller design, use some aerodynamics and operation of controllable
Feather & Reverse Pitch
propellers during preflight, cruise and the influence on fuel consumption.
Blade Twist & Pitch
Aerodynamics, I
Twisting Forces & Blade
Aerodynamics, II
Basic Propeller Design
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Private Propellers are usually constructed of wood, aluminum alloy or a combination of composites and wood. The

Jet leading edge is sometimes reinforced with nickel for protection against rain, sand and small stones. They
come in two, three or more blades depending of the application and engine. Some high-end turboprop aircraft
Charter even have six blades to absorb the power. But, more blades means more weight and more propeller torque

ASAP (drag) and the engine must be able to handle this.

24/7, Flight Power conversion

Charter, The function of the propeller is to convert brake horse power from the engine into useful thrust. To do this
Plane Charter there are two types of propellers in use: fixed pitch (or ground adjustable, which remains at a preset fixed
20% off pitch during flight) and the constant speed propeller with some variations possible.
Helicopter
Charter, Call
Blade angle
us
Looking at a propeller, its blade angle varies from the root to the tip. This is because angular
speed of the blade is at it highest at the tip (reaching the speed of sound) and lowest at the
root. If the blade angle would be constant then the angle of attack of the relative airflow
(result of forward speed and RPM) would vary across the propeller disc (and the thrust too), and
the blade would probably be stalled. To make sure that the generated thrust is somewhat equal from root to
tip, the blade angle varies from high at the root (low angular speed) and low at the tip (high angular speed).

Thrust creation

During propeller rotation the airflow past the propeller blade produces an aerodynamic reaction with can be
 resolved into thrust (with wings we call this lift) and propeller torque (drag). To rotate the propeller the engine
needs to create a force, torque. The resistance to this rotation is called propeller torque and when these two
forces are in balance or stabilized, engine/propeller RPM is also constant. Thus power created by the engine is
absorbed by the propeller and as a result thrust is generated.

Fixed pitch

With this type the blades are fixed and cannot move (except rotate), thus propeller blade angle is fixed (but
the blade angle still changes from the root to the tip as explained above). It can be seen that there is also one
RPM / airspeed combination where the propeller is operating at the most efficient and optimum angle of
attack and produces its maximum thrust. On all other airspeeds (or conditions of flight) there is less thrust
available from the propeller. In other words, its effective angle of attack depends on RPM and airspeed.

To compensate, manufacturers sometimes offer a climb and a cruise propeller available for the same model or
type so that operators may choose the best product for their day to day flying.

Although convenient and simple to operate, a fixed pitch propeller will always be a compromise between a
number of factors as RPM, airspeed, relative airflow, angle of attack, two or three blades, blade chord and
length, emitted sound level etc... You get the picture.

Constant speed

To overcome all these disadvantages the constant speed (or variable pitch) propeller is
able to adjust its blade angle. Thereby operating closer to or at its optimum angle of
attack over a wide range of RPM and airspeed combinations. The result is that the maximum amount of thrust
is obtained from aircraft standstill to its maximum speed (V NE) or from minimum to maximum propeller

pitch/blade angle. A shorter take-off roll and much better climb performance may be expected and a lower
specific fuel consumption is also one of the advantages.

These propellers are, as expected, more expensive in terms of acquisition cost and maintenance. But should
you require maximum performance from your aircraft in most circumstances, then this is the way to go.

Propeller control

With a fixed pitch propeller the pilot has only one control, throttle, to control power
and RPM. With a constant speed propeller there are two controls: power (throttle, black
knob) and RPM (propeller, blue knob). In addition there should be a MAP indicator
(manifold pressure) which relates to engine power.

Moving the propeller control (pitch) changes the RPM at which the engine and
propeller will rotate and moving the throttle changes the amount of power delivered
(MAP) to the propeller at the preset RPM held constant by the propeller governor.

An aircraft with a constant speed propeller is usually a bit more complex and is not normally used for basic (ab
initio) flight training. Those training for higher licenses (CPL, ATPL) will need to understand and properly
operate these more complex aircraft with higher powered engines.

Written by EAI .

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