The lowdown on moveable propellor planes?

Yeah, I would appreciate a thorough explanation as well. I believe they are referred to as "constant speed" propellers. Thus far the best description I have been given in regards to this subject is that it's similar to shifting gears in your car. Once you're up to speed, you can shift into one of the higher gears for more efficiency. I've noticed while flying the C182 from carenado that adjusting the propeller pitch in cruise will usually give you a good boost in your engine (or exhaust?) temperature, very close to the most efficient value!

Don Wood, HELP! 😀

Here is a good site that explains the conept of constant speed props

http://www.avweb.com/news/maint/185020-1.html

this wiki page mentions it to

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propellor

I don't think I can add anything to the discussion of constant speed and variable pitch props contained in the article Insight provided in his/her post.

As to the original question, turboprop has nothing to do with whether a prop is fixed or variable. Turboprop refers to the type of engine driving the propellor, not to the type of prop. I am not a mechanic and don't feel competent to address the characteristics of the various engine types (reciprocating, turbo-boosted, turbo driven, and jet), however, many variable pitch or contant speed props are mounted on non-turbo engines.

Thanks for the "insight" in that article 😉 .

originalgrunge wrote:

Thanks for the "insight" in that article 😉 .

*groan*

never heard that before 🙂

(its a he Don 🙂 )

I'm also thrown by the constant speed propeller. I understand the principles of operation, I think, but actually coordinating the throttle and propeller controls--well, reading the article above, plus the one in the Learning Center, and trial and error practice in the 182 weren't very productive. It's the main reason I've been sticking with the 172SP.

HL

JTH wrote:

I think they're called turboprops. I feel I've outgrown my Cessna 172 to some extent, and I'd like to try a plane with a moveable propellor like the Cessna 182 or Beechcraft Baron. But I don't get what you're meant to do differently now that you have the propellor knob. I've done the flight lesson on it, but as usual Rod Macado's rambling essays have left me very unclear.

Any short summary of how these planes work/what I have to do differently would be much appreciated 😂

Thanks!

While the repliers to this question where as usual spot on and did their best to throw light on this mystery, I'm taking the liberty of quoting our beloved Microsoft who have managed to put it all into an easily digestable nutshell:

****************************************************************

Propeller control lever

Adjusting the propeller in an airplane is a lot like using gears in a car. In low gears the engine turns fast to get you moving. Once you’re underway, there’s no need to use a lot of power, so you shift to a higher gear to make more efficient use of less power. In an airplane, the propeller control lever indirectly changes the angle at which the propeller blades meet the air, which affects how fast the engine turns.
The tachometer on the instrument panel shows how fast your engine is turning.
During takeoff, in combat, and during landing (in case you need to abort and take off again) you’ll need every bit of power your engine can develop. So during these three phases of flight, keep the propeller lever forward: the angle of the blades will be low, slicing through the air easily so you can get the engine’s full power (like using a low gear in a car).
During cruise, pull the propeller lever backward a bit: the angle of the blades will increase and take a bigger bite out of the air, making more efficient use of the engine’s power (like using a high gear in a car).

Because your aircraft has a “constant-speed” propeller, any time you change the throttle setting a governor automatically adjusts the angle of the blades to maintain that speed. This reduces your workload!

Note: The default setting of your airplane’s prop control lever is the forward (high speed) position. Don’t change this setting if you don’t need to. As a fighter pilot, you’ll want this setting most of the time. Leaving the prop control lever forward during cruising flight means you’ll fly less efficiently and use more fuel, but it won’t cause any damage.

**************************************************************

The above is an unedited excerpt from the MSCFSII Pilot's Manual.

I've tried to present the whole thing as a 'Quotation' - but the rotten 'Quote' button up the top won't let me do it - what's wrong with these computers

Propeller control lever

Adjusting the propeller in an airplane is a lot like using gears in a car. In low gears the engine turns fast to get you moving. Once you’re underway, there’s no need to use a lot of power, so you shift to a higher gear to make more efficient use of less power. In an airplane, the propeller control lever indirectly changes the angle at which the propeller blades meet the air, which affects how fast the engine turns.
The tachometer on the instrument panel shows how fast your engine is turning.
During takeoff, in combat, and during landing (in case you need to abort and take off again) you’ll need every bit of power your engine can develop. So during these three phases of flight, keep the propeller lever forward: the angle of the blades will be low, slicing through the air easily so you can get the engine’s full power (like using a low gear in a car).
During cruise, pull the propeller lever backward a bit: the angle of the blades will increase and take a bigger bite out of the air, making more efficient use of the engine’s power (like using a high gear in a car).

Because your aircraft has a “constant-speed” propeller, any time you change the throttle setting a governor automatically adjusts the angle of the blades to maintain that speed. This reduces your workload!

Note: The default setting of your airplane’s prop control lever is the forward (high speed) position. Don’t change this setting if you don’t need to. As a fighter pilot, you’ll want this setting most of the time. Leaving the prop control lever forward during cruising flight means you’ll fly less efficiently and use more fuel, but it won’t cause any damage

Copy all the text.Past it in you reply window.Draw with left click the mouse to it till you get all of it blue.Click Quote.

Sorry if you already do this and i seem like a smart

Greekman72 wrote:

Copy all the text.Past it in you reply window.Draw with left click the mouse to it till you get all of it blue.Click Quote.

Sorry, my friend, you're either losing your magic touch... or your method is a tad 'outdated' - it won't work on my state of the art computer

Thanks for trying anyway

Always allow BBCode: Yes No
Always allow HTML: Yes No

Do you have these settings in your account?

I know that you have a state of the art my friend...how couldnt you 😉

or you could use the browser of champions (Firefox) with the plugin of the gods installed (BBCode) and all this is conveniently available in the right click context menu 😀

Greekman, affirmative. The two settings you suggest are both: Yes

Insight, I've been using Firefox ever since the Vixen seduced me.
I have an extension called BBCodeXtra 0.2.5.4 and have been in the habit of right clicking more often than left clicking for years - precisely for the reason that the right click gives me all the options in the drop down menu.
Alas... the gods don't appear to be smiling down on my attempts to become more proficient

PS: I had originally typed the text from a book into a Microsoft Word Document (spellchecker, you know), and then tried to paste it as a quote into the Message body - maybe that's why it didn't work.

Thanks for your concerns, Gentlemen 😀