Aeromatic prop

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whitebull72

New member
Does anyone have experience with running an aeromatic on a 165 Franklin? I was curious about fuel consumption versus fixed pitch.
 
I ran one for a while on my 150 powered Cruisair. I never figured fuel consumption with it but the performance difference was wonderful. The takeoff run was much better and climb was much better. I actually lost about 3 mph top end, but I never ran flat out anyway. You may hear rumors that you can run them at 2800 rpm since the 2650 limit in the AD only applies to Stinsons. The AD is limited to the Stinson, but our TC limits it to 2650 in Cruisairs. If you need it, I will have an Aeromatic spinner for sale soon. ____Grant.
 
No comparison numbers here either. I sure loved mine. It ran right to redline on the takeoff and came back to cruise rpm at cruise manifold pressure. I like neat mechanical things and the Areomatic is certainly clever. The only down side was the rpm came down at high altitude limiting the performance up high.
 
I ran one for a few years in my 150 HP Cruisair. I burned about 8 to 8.5 GPH at 2500 rpm. Seemed to hit critical altitude at ~7000 ft. in a climb. Had to dip the nose, and recover RPM and slowly resume climb. Highest I ever went was 11,000 ft once. Often flew at 9500, but took a while to get there, especially the last 2000 ft. I used a 6 cylinder EGT to lean the engine to about 100 deg rich of peak. When I changed to a fixed pitch, I lost a little in climb and gained in cruise. For a reason I cannot really explain, I picked up 3 kts when I recovered one aileron. (Previously out of rig?)

With the fixed pitch McC I flight planned 113 kts and burned 8.3 gph at X country altitude (7.5-8.5). Set RPM at ~2500 rpm (electronic digital tach) and leaned to peak while watching RPM. Settled on 2550 rpm ~50-100 rich of peak. (113 kt TAS, 8.3 gpm) This is all based on 26 years of ownership and 1500+ hrs in that plane.

Larry
 
I'm running a 165 heavy case behind an Aeromatic prop. I have no comparison data but burn around 8 gph leaned out, T/O is at 2800 rpm and cruise is at 2600 rpm. My strip is 813' ASL and I rarely fly above 5000' ASL. I have the prop pitched a little more fine for better T/O performance as my strip is only 2200' grass. Best I've seen in this configuration is IAS of 120kts. at 7000' ASL.
Regards,
Andy
 
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