Sport Pilot Talk

Guys:

My previous posts stated my exuberance for the DUC Swirl 3-blade Inconel, ground adjustable propeller I bolted to the nose of my Sting on 06/21/2013. Well, whilst sailing along today, I blew through the 300-hour mark on this baby and decided to post an "Am I still satisfied?" update.

Yep! Still the best thing I ever did to this airplane! The prop still looks like new, with not a nick or scratch. It is still meeting all my performance expectations and then some. In fact, the more it breaks in, the more it seems to perform like a constant-speed prop. For example, on climb-out at 70 knots, it barely pulls the necessary 5200 engine RPM, but pull the nose up a bit to 60 knots Vy and engine RPM rises to well into the 5200s. And speed? Well, you've seen my videos--that prop will pull the airplane 120 knots all day, no sweat.

Well, that's my story--and I'm sticking to it. How 'bout you other pilots who put the DUC on your baby? Are you still happy?

Rich

Update October 25, 2014 for DUC Propeller Owners:

I've blown through 500 hours on this prop now, in just about a year and a half, and just could not be any happier with it--except for one thing. I've been fretting about that ominous TBO statement from the manufacturer (in France): "At 800 hours send it to us. We'll check it over and if it is 'good,' we'll send it back, authorized for another 800 (I'm paraphrasing) hours."

Well, last week I got some relief from that worry. My mechanic, Bill Sherlock, was as my hangar rebuilding my carbs and overhauling my gearbox. And I discovered the great news: He's a DUC prop distributor AND has been authorized by DUC to do those 800-hour inspections. So, when it comes time, not only will I NOT be sending my prop off to a big, black hole in France, I won't even need to send it out of Californica!

So, DUC owners, keep that name, this post, or Aerotrek, in mind. Bill is also west coast distributor and one of the maintenance gurus for Aerotrek.

Rich

drdehave wrote:Update October 25, 2014 for DUC Propeller Owners:

I've blown through 500 hours on this prop now, in just about a year and a half, and just could not be any happier with it--except for one thing. I've been fretting about that ominous TBO statement from the manufacturer (in France): "At 800 hours send it to us. We'll check it over and if it is 'good,' we'll send it back, authorized for another 800 (I'm paraphrasing) hours."

Well, last week I got some relief from that worry. My mechanic, Bill Sherlock, was as my hangar rebuilding my carbs and overhauling my gearbox. And I discovered the great news: He's a DUC prop distributor AND has been authorized by DUC to do those 800-hour inspections. So, when it comes time, not only will I NOT be sending my prop off to a big, black hole in France, I won't even need to send it out of Californica!

So, DUC owners, keep that name, this post, or Aerotrek, in mind. Bill is also west coast distributor and maintenance guru for Aerotrek.

Rich

Rich,

Thanks for the info.
Does he have a website?
Phone contact?

Bill's Aerotrek Page:

http://www.aerotrek.aero/western-usa.htm

FWIW, I've been doing Aerotrek maintenance and inspections on the other side of the country:

Http://avsport.org/maint

Don't have the 300 plus hours Rich has but went up today and did performance tests on my DUC. 5500rpm, 4260 DA, 127kts TAS. Not too shabby

"5500rpm, 4260 DA, 127kts TAS. Not too shabby"

Indeed! And I've become convinced that the more it breaks in, the better it gets. I may find a downside to it, eventually, but not yet.

Ah, today, my mechanic was here, working out some engine "kinks" on my 1,619-hour Sting Sport, so when we finished that, I asked him if he could re-certify my DUC Swirl prop for another 800 hours (since he's a DUC distributor and has been factory-authorized to do 800-hr inspections).

He pulled the prop and hubs off and performed a close inspection. He agreed with my assessment: It still looked essentially just like it did new, in June 2013--530 hours ago! My next TBO is in 800 more hours!

I love this prop! (No, they're not paying me. Maybe they will?)

drdehave wrote:"5500rpm, 4260 DA, 127kts TAS. Not too shabby"

Indeed! And I've become convinced that the more it breaks in, the better it gets. I may find a downside to it, eventually, but not yet.

I do believe you are correct, sir! Today I was at 5600rpm, 5500', DA 6600', 132kts TAS.