MT prop/shout out to McFarlane

[Walt]

Ordered on Monday received this beauty on Friday, The service at McFarlane is superb!
Installed and balanced, looking at some test flight’s with it tomorrow.
MTV-9 replacing the Hartzell BA.

[riseric]

Nice !!!
I have the same, can't compare as it's the only one I flew with.
I can say that it works flawlessly up to now. Only 40 hours done.


Looking forward to read your first impressions and any comments on the difference with the BA.

[jrock836]

Looks great. I certainly don't need a 3 bladed prop, but they sure look good!

[Walt]

Flew about 4 hrs today with the new prop, a few observations:

Definitely smoother at all RPM ranges, can dial eng back as far as 2100 or less, which I would never do with the Hartzell and it was smooth the whole time. Did a 3 hr cross country and settled in with 2300 as a sweet spot compared to 2400 on the Hartzell. Do to low ceilings was never able to get above 4500ft.

Braking is insane, pull the power all the way back and the brakes are full on. Will need to adjust my "normal" landing profile, need to keep a little power in or she will start slowing quickly, great for steep approaches.

Idle RPM had to backed off a bit, it jumped up about 50 RPM.

Quick to spool up and shut down, the reduction in inertia is evident.

Not sure about cruise speed, although it seems pretty close to what I was seeing before. Need to get up to 8000-10,000 and see how it does.

With only a couple of take-offs to evaluate, but seems like improve climb, shorter ground roll.

Spinner fit perfect, exactly where my other one was, and all prebuilt, no drilling required!

About a 4-5lb weight loss off my nose which I am glad to have.

Quieter, noticeable improvement is sound level.

Overall, very very pleased.

[Skykingbob]

Hey Walt,

Thanks for the initial PIREP! My buddy Jim and I both have one......although the are currently flying in the shipping crate waiting for the airplane build to catch up with it

How far off was the balance initially and how close did you get the balance dialed in? Keep practicing that balancing because I intend on flying my airplane out there and have you do it haha.

I will be very interested in future about the performance and opinions on the MTV-9.

Thanks for posting!

[Walt]

Originally Posted by Skykingbob

Hey Walt,

How far off was the balance initially and how close did you get the balance dialed in? Keep practicing that balancing because I intend on flying my airplane out there and have you do it haha.

I will be very interested in future about the performance and opinions on the MTV-9.

Thanks for posting!

The Dynamic balance started at 0.310 which is on the high side, finished at 0.011 ips after 4 runs which is a very low level, better than average.
(my goal is 0.05 IPS after balance which is half the 'after balance' limit)

So despite people thinking their composite props feel smoother, which they generally do, they can still benefit significantly from a dynamic balance which every prop manufacturer recommends.

Red circle indicates upper limit of 0.2 IPS