A big windmilling prop is much worse than engine at idle.
Like Ron said: be careful out there.
A big windmilling prop is much worse than engine at idle.
Like Ron said: be careful out there.
When I bought my Fly Baby, the idle was set to about 750 RPM. I thought that was fine, and flew for a number of years.
Eventually, during a Condition Inspection, the A&P noted it and suggested it be set about 200 RPM lower. It made a surprising difference in the way the plane dropped on final, and I almost had to re-learn how to land.
Full details at: http://www.bowersflybaby.com/stories/idle.html
That change in RPM made a bit difference...probably about the same between idling and windmilling.
Ron Wanttaja
Last edited by rwanttaja; 03-22-2017 at 09:22 PM.
I just read this crash report where a low flying pilot let his groundspeed decay from 105 to 41kts just before impact. (GPS recorded)
Then he asked the first responders "what happened".
https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.a...14FA068&akey=1