Which Prop for my Bravo?

[nigelm]

Hi Guy's,

 

Can any of you help me with this problem. I have been advised to change the propeller on my Tecnam P2004 Bravo (100hp) as many of the air strips here are quite short, and with the heat altitude etc may be difficult to take off from, plus the Bravo is not exactly light.

 

At present I have the standard GT Tonini prop with adjustable pitch married to an Autoprop 2002 electric pitch control system.

 

The advise I have received is to change to a Kaspar two or preferably three blade hydraulically adjustable propeller.

 

Personaly all I want is to be able to get into and more importantly out of these shorter air strips here in Spain with security (some are only 400meters). If my cruising speed is reduced I am not so worried as I am not looking to be in a rush anywhere.

 

I only have 40 hours so am still very very green, and the air strip I fly from here at Trebujena near Jerez is 1.200meters long and tarmac, so building my hours here with the set up I have at present will be fine.

 

However the advise I have received is that the change of propeller will transform the performance of the Bravo, so any advise that you all could give me would be much apreciated as to change will not be cheap, but I will if the change is going to be worth the expense.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel.

 

PS here is a video clip of my plane and me with my instructor Alejandro.

 

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Hi There , I have flown the P92 with a constant speed 3 blade AIRMASTER prop. It is electrically controlled via a selector on the dash and gives you the options of either takeoff, climb, cruise or manual where you can manually select the pitch with a toggle switch to suit. A real nice piece of gear, but at AU$12,000 a little out of the range of most. Very quality unit.

 

Also have fitted and used the Italian INDAVARIO 3 blade prop which is a manually hydralic adjustment, but also performs pretty well. I would agree that the standard 2 blade has it's limits. The AIRMASTER has a good website, just Google and have a look. Cheers.

 

 

[Guest pelorus32]

I'm flying an aircraft with a 912 ULS at the moment that has a 2 bladed Star Prop (they are available in 3 bladed) - electro hydraulic - adjustable propeller and a D'Onfrio CIP controller.

 

The system works very well and the performance is great. The D'Onofrio controller has 3 modes: Manual, Constant Speed and Automatic. The automatic mode uses static and pitot data plus MAP and engine revs to set the prop. Depending on phase of flight it chooses an appropriate setting. It is calibrated to the power curve of the 912ULS.

 

Controller: CIP

 

Propeller System: STARPROP

 

There is an Australian distributor for both systems and I'm happy to PM those details to you. I don't know about where you are.

 

Kind regards

 

Mike

 

 

[Guest Cloudsuck]

Hi Nigel, before you go spending any money, you may be better off getting a few more hours up. Any Tecnam can make a feast of a 400m strip. You just need some more experience and practise. A Tecnam is a good short field machine.

 

 

[Guest brentc]

We're probably talking about some pretty high heat and or altitude strips in this instance.

 

Nigel, what RPM is the engine hitting with the prop at the finest pitch setting? It should be able to reach 5,800rpm if set correctly. If not, you could be doing better with your current prop.

 

 

[johnm]

autoprop 2002

 

photo should be attached - tecnam bravo advert

 

autoprop 2002

 

dont know any thing about it though

 

 

 

[nigelm]

Thanks for all advise, it's much apreciated.

 

As to the rpm, it certainly reaches 5.800rpm if anything a little over. I will double check everything again this weekend, weather permitting and report back.

 

Again thanks and by for now,

 

Nigel.