Van's Air Force
Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.
Can I Fly without a spinner
- Thread starter RV3bpilot
- Start date
KSOYflight
I'm New Here
I do not recommend it. The spinner actually has an important job of directing airflow into/around your cowl entry points for proper engine cooling. I had a cracked spinner and replaced it with a spinner of the same size that had a rounded tip instead of a more pointed one. While that spinner was on the airplane until I could get mine repaired I had two cylinders that were running very hot compared to their normal readings (on an IO-540). Put the repaired spinner on and the temps returned to normal.
Neal@F14
Well Known Member
If you do choose to fly without the spinner installed, make doubly certain you aren't bottoming out your prop bolts before reaching torque values on them. Some prop bolts (especially wood/composite fixed pitch) depend on the thickness of both front and rear spinner bulkheads plus the crush plate to take up the grip length of the bolts. Really, really bad things will happen if the prop bolts bottom out and the prop is not properly secured to the crankshaft.
Several years ago, a friend of mine in an RV-6 had a suspected bird strike that took most of the spinner cone off in flight. I was flying behind him in my old Cherokee when it happened. All he knew at the moment was there was a loud bang followed by excessive prop vibrations. He slowed down so I could pull alongside and I noticed his spinner was gone! Fortunately there was an airport just a few miles away so he throttled back to reduce the vibrations and landed normally. There was a small piece of fiberglass still held on by a couple screws but it was enough to throw the balance off quite noticeably. We removed the fragment of fiberglass and the remainder of the spinner screws to get the balance back to something useable, and he flew it home. He said with the spinner cone now totally off he could run normal RPMs without vibration, but did notice some added drag and reduced airspeed. No noticeable increase on the CHTs either, but he only had a 150hp O-320 which was not known to be a big heat producer and it was a fairly cool day.
So... you might get away with limited amount of flying an RV without a spinner under certain conditions, but it's highly inadvisable to do it on purpose as a matter of routine operations.
Several years ago, a friend of mine in an RV-6 had a suspected bird strike that took most of the spinner cone off in flight. I was flying behind him in my old Cherokee when it happened. All he knew at the moment was there was a loud bang followed by excessive prop vibrations. He slowed down so I could pull alongside and I noticed his spinner was gone! Fortunately there was an airport just a few miles away so he throttled back to reduce the vibrations and landed normally. There was a small piece of fiberglass still held on by a couple screws but it was enough to throw the balance off quite noticeably. We removed the fragment of fiberglass and the remainder of the spinner screws to get the balance back to something useable, and he flew it home. He said with the spinner cone now totally off he could run normal RPMs without vibration, but did notice some added drag and reduced airspeed. No noticeable increase on the CHTs either, but he only had a 150hp O-320 which was not known to be a big heat producer and it was a fairly cool day.
So... you might get away with limited amount of flying an RV without a spinner under certain conditions, but it's highly inadvisable to do it on purpose as a matter of routine operations.
Last edited:
RV3bpilot
Well Known Member
Flying without a spinner
Thank you for the replies, I ordered a spinner from a company pre-drilled and fitted but it was not centered and had a shake to it so I sent it back. I do have shorter bolts just for when there is no back plate, "yes the other bolts bottemed out before torqued tight" ...
Thank you for the replies, I ordered a spinner from a company pre-drilled and fitted but it was not centered and had a shake to it so I sent it back. I do have shorter bolts just for when there is no back plate, "yes the other bolts bottemed out before torqued tight" ...
Last edited:
