Flight Testing - Comparing of Two Props:
Sensenich vs Prince
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Sonex currently offers Sensenich props through their web store. They have flight tested a number of props (somewhere around 20) and have consistently found that Sensenich props offer outstanding performance. Sonex previously offered Prince Propellers as well, but have since stopped offering them directly. When it came time to order, I purchased a composite coated Sensenich 54"-64" and flew that prop for the first 15 hours of flight testing.
The Sensenich was performing well, but I was eager to try a Prince Prop. A local Sonex pilot offered to loan me his Prince 54-60, and I performed several test flights to collect climb and speed data. My initial impressions of the Prince were very positive! It was smooth, turned up well, and was fast! After crunching the numbers, the Prince climbed nearly as well as the Sensenich. In fact, the Prince climb data was within a couple percent of the Sensenich. The difference could have been simply scatter in the data. Top speed difference was more pronounced. I noted approximately 10 mph greater speed at WOT using the Prince over the Sensenich. Any time you can get more speed without sacrificing climb performance is a rare Win-Win!
The spreadsheet captures the data and charts the results. Prop Comparison Spreadsheet (Excel) Links: |
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Updated: 23 Jan 14