AOPA Pilot Blog: Reporting Points

Sensenich Propeller Manufacturing, Inc introduced its first ground adjustable propeller to hit the market in more than 50 years at Sun ‘n Fun. Unlike the ground adjustable propellers of yesteryear–where the pilot attempted to align marks on each blade with marks on the hub–the Sensenich prop uses steel cartridges that are pushed into a slot in the hub, locking each blade into the angle specified on the cartridge.

The new Sensenich cartridge system allows the pilot to select whether the blades are set to flat pitch (high rpm) to shorten take off runs or for coarse pitch (low rpm) to increase cruise speeds.

The blades are of hollow composite construction and feature a bonded metal leading edge. This construction technique–also known as internal pressure molding–lessens the overall weight of the propeller system. The weight of the propeller for the O-200 is 17 pounds.

These design features are also being implemented on propellers designed for the Continental IO-240 and the Lycoming O-235 engines, which are slated for release later in 2008. Retail price for the propellers is $3,195. A video of the pitch change process is available on the Sensenich Web site.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 14th, 2008 at 8:53 am and is filed under Sun 'n Fun. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.