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Message
What maximum power are you willing to
run continuously? 7-8 gph
Do you want to optimize the prop for
cruise, or climb? Cruise
If this were a Lycoming, and
we were trying to find the best cruise speed, we'd go to 8000 ft, and apply
full throttle. Since we know that's about 75% power for a NA engine,
the goal would be to pitch the prop for the redline RPM at that
altitude. Simple.
Unfortunately, we don't have book
numbers to look up, and we can't even go by the 75% rule, since we aren't all
making the same 100% power. For example, Tracy is making 190+, but others
are below 150, so 75% power for Tracy, may be more than someone else can make at
100%. I'm willing to run my engine at 150 HP continuous, which makes
it the equivalent of a 200 HP Lycoming in cruise. I can't say what that is
in gph though.
Like everyone has said, it's a
balance between climb and cruise, and since we can't look up numbers in a book,
we have to figure this out experimentally. Now that you've defined
your limits, you can experiment with pitch until you can satisfy your
needs. Or you can just buy the in-flight adjustable option and save
us all a bunch of typing :-)
Have
fun,
Rusty (flying tomorrow for
sure)
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