Jim Coyer’s Weblog

Logged 2.2 hours in N28RJ, a Cessna 172RG.

An event definitely worth inaugural weblog entry status since it was a chance to defy gravity yet again, but this flight was even better than normal for a couple reasons. First, 8RJ is a complex aircraft, with retractable landing gear and a constant-speed propeller, and I’d never flown a plane like it before. Also, I flew up to Riverside with Tsotne completely IFR (Instrument Flight Rules), which is quite different than flying the normal “VFR.”

I’ve heard the constant-speed propeller called “the stick shift” of propeller planes, because the variable-pitch the propellers can take are a direct analogy to the gears of a stick-shift car. When flying a plane like this, there are actually two levers instead of just one: a throttle, but in addition a “prop” control, which acts to limit the RPM setting of the engine. The pilot dials in an upper limit for the RPM with the prop control, and increases power output of the engine with the throttle. A mechanical governor on the hub of the propeller blades automatically adjusts the pitch of the prop blades to keep the engine’s rotation rate under the maximum RPM.

It sounds a lot more complicated than it is – but it’s a heck of a lot of fun.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 14th, 2002 at 11:20 pm and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.