On February 14th, I called Lonnie Prince at Prince Aircraft Company, and discussed with him the performance that I was (not) getting from my present prop, a 60x68, manufacturer unknown. The prop is obviously a cruise prop and did work quite well at 8500’; however, I was unimpressed with its performance while departing KMGW (Morgantown, WV) 1248’, last summer with a temp of 92F.
Lonnie convinced me that his stock carbon fiber, Prince P-Tip for an O-200 VariEze should give better take-off performance and that it would do well at cruise altitudes. I also had received some positive feedback e-mail from Burrall Sanders, Lee Devlin, and “Elwood,” re: the P-Tip. I ordered Lonnie’s Prince P-Tip on the 14th, it was delivered on the 16th, and I installed it on the 17th. Prior to installing the P-Tip, I flew my old prop at 4500’, 6500’, and 8500’ and took down some numbers for comparison.
My old 60x68 turned up 2320-40 rpm static run-up before takeoff and eventually got up to 2500 for climb. The new P-Tip turned 2440-60 at run-up and seemingly sling-shotted to 2500+ during takeoff roll. All the numbers for the new Prince prop were so much better than my old 60x68, that I didn’t even bother recording them. Climb rate was 1000+ @ 100KIAS all the way to 6500’ (temp approx 50F – ˝ tanks fuel) where I leveled off and accelerated to cruise, 125-30KIAS. I didn’t bother climbing on up to 8500. Being short of time, I RTB-ed, hangared the EZ, and let a week go by before flying it again. (Wheel pants were off).
My second flight was just as impressive as the first (temp again about 50F, full tanks) with a much shorter takeoff roll and much smarter climb rate than my old prop. Rough numbers; 5-10-15 knots faster at play-around altitude, 350’-1500’ msl, up and down the Mississippi, and 5-10 knots faster at cruise, 4500’. Climbing back up from low level to 1500’ was most impressive, compared to the old 60x68.
Many years ago, I had a Stearman and had the Redline disk brakes installed by Air Repair at the annual Stearman fly-in in Galesburg, IL. Those brakes were such an improvement over the stock brakes that I claimed then, and still do, that installing disk brakes was the single best thing anyone could do to improve the Stearman’s performance.
I haven’t flown a Catto, Hertzler, or Klaus prop; however, at this time, I’ll say that the carbon fiber, Prince P-Tip has been the best improvement that I’ve made to my stock O-200 VEZE.
I’m very impressed with the P-Tip’s performance. In addition, that black prop sure does look sharp, as well.
