RV’s Get Composite Prop Technology, Weight Savings

By Gene Yarbrough

Hartzell Propellers has entered into a research and development/marketing venture to showcase their Advance Structural Composite propellers installed on the Vans RV show planes flown by Team AeroDynamix. Hartzell president Joe Brown, company president, said that the teaming with Team AeroDynamix provides an outlet to show off the product while helping improve the team’s performance.

Team AeroDynamix founder and lead pilot Mike Stewart said that the propeller is a significant improvement over previous propellers used by the team. The Hartzell propeller is an off the shelf unit already in production and offers a 15lb savings from the typical all metal Hartzell propeller typically used on the RVs.

Hartzell manufactures the props in its Piqua, Ohio facility and uses a polyurethane foam core wrapped with carbon fiber and cured using resin transfer molding technology. The propellers are extremely strong and stiff. Brown said Hartzell provides propellers to each team member in return for testing and advertisement benefits. Brown was reticent to quantify the value of the relationship when asked.

Stewart said in a news release that the team installed the new propellers on their RV-series aircraft in June, and the pilots instantly saw the advantages of the ASC-II features. "Take-off acceleration and smoothness was obvious. The look and feel of these propellers was dramatic from the start," said Stewart.

(Image provided by Team AeroDynamix)

FMI: www.Hartzellprop.com