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Whirlwind 300 series -3 blade PIREP

ethand

Well Known Member
A few months ago Whirlwind was looking for an additional testbed for their new to market three bladed RV-10 propeller. Considering I am across the runway from them and have a competing MT prop on my plane I raised my hand and offered to have them install one on my -10 (I know twist my arm)

I have flown it 20 hours or so and can report it is every bit as fast as the MT prop and climbs slightly better.

The prop is a three blade 76" diameter prop with composite carbon blades and nickel leading edges. Hub is one piece AL alloy.

Always nice to have choices in everything we build, propellers included.

E
 

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Prop purchase is coming up shortly for me, so this is very timely.
Thanks for the PIREP.
 
Hello Marc

No, much like MT, Whirlwind supplies the spinner and backing plate for the propeller.

E
 
Whirlwind props

I second Ethan, been Test running mine on my 10 for almost a year and close to 100hrs
Best test decision ever.
Removing the Hartzell and installing the whirlwind is like day and night in smoothness.
Climb is great and surprisingly only a couple kts slower.
I just gotta get my spinner painted 🤔
I highly recommend the whirlwind.
 
How much weight was on the prop to statically balance it from WW? How much weight did you add to dynamically balance it on your engine? Thanks.
 
Whirlwind

Didn’t need any balancing. Factory did a great job. Doesn’t slow you down like the MT when per is cut. Pretty much acts like the Hartzell I feel. Ethan would know that better , he had a MT before installing the WW.
 
The MT prop is slower than the 2-blade aluminum Hartzell.
In the other thread the Whirlwind engineer said the 300 has no speed penalty.
Would you be able to give us some numbers (power settings and TAS)? I'll try to replicate it with my Hartzell to compare. If there's really no speed penalty I'm getting it.

Lenny

I have flown it 20 hours or so and can report it is every bit as fast as the MT prop...
E
 
The MT prop is slower than the 2-blade aluminum Hartzell.
In the other thread the Whirlwind engineer said the 300 has no speed penalty.
Would you be able to give us some numbers (power settings and TAS)? I'll try to replicate it with my Hartzell to compare. If there's really no speed penalty I'm getting it.

Lenny

Lenny - I posted my results of head-to-head testing on the same airplane of the Hartzell BA vs. the WW-300 here:

https://vansairforce.net/community/showthread.php?t=185917

This was on the RV-8, but I would expect you’d see the same relative numbers on any of the RV’s. Summary - No speed difference, about 10% better climb performance.

Paul
 
I flew my RV-3 for around 100 hours with an old straight 2 blade Hartzell prop before installing the 3-bladed Whirlwind. At 8,000’ density altitude (as calculated by my Dynon), and 24-squared, I do 174 knots true airspeed both with the Hartzell and the new Whirlwind.

The Whirlwind is noticeably smoother and the climb is better, but I can’t quantify the climb improvement because I was always zooming around having too much fun to take accurate measurements!
 
Thanks Paul! I did read the Kitplanes article. Was just hoping that someone had a similarly thorough analysis for the RV-10 setup.

Lenny

Lenny - I posted my results of head-to-head testing on the same airplane of the Hartzell BA vs. the WW-300 here:

https://vansairforce.net/community/showthread.php?t=185917

This was on the RV-8, but I would expect you’d see the same relative numbers on any of the RV’s. Summary - No speed difference, about 10% better climb performance.

Paul
 
I have not flow with a Hartzell on my -10, only the MT. Below is a picture flying back from Prescott on Saturday. I have made this run a few times between San Diego and Prescott, typically at 9,500 and 10,500. Most of the time displaying 166-168 true. Yesterday was a bit colder so I think it was driving the speeds up.
 

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