"Mike G" skrev i en meddelelse
ews.com...
In article
,
says...
On Mon, 06 Jun 2005 08:01:55 -0400, Gogarty
said:

A freewheeling propeller creates more drag than a locked
on.. Just
consider a helicopter. Engine out and rotors
freewheeling, the aircraft
will go down safely. Rotors locked and it drops like a
stone.

Bad analogy. In a helicopter when the rotors are
freewheeling after the
engine dies they're still rotating in a direction that
generates lift.



I just have to ask. In what way is it a bad analogy?

SNIP

Personally I figure, locked or freewheeling, the
difference in the
amount of drag caused by a kicker's prop is going to be so
small as to
be a total non issue unless you are into times in parts of
a second in
which case you pull the damn thing out of the water
anyway.


--
Mike G.
Heirloom Woods

www.heirloom-woods.net

I agree, that the practical difference might be dismissal
.... but in a race every second counts per NM ... and it is
not easy to get a fixed propeller out of the water ;-) - and
I'm pretty curious of knowing the correct answer to my
question - preferably backed by solid science as I'm not a
scientist ...

When cruising, I would always lock the propeller - or follow
Larry's advice - use the energy generated ... that is
something I will consider ti implement in the future ...

--
Flemming Torp