With five-blade Hartzell composite props featured on a trio of its turboprop models on display at EAA AirVenture at Oshkosh, Daher has a vested interest in dispelling myths surrounding the use of these advanced materials over traditional aluminum blades. It certainly was convincing to watch bird strike video during its press conference at the show—carefully chosen to demonstrate the worst-use case—at takeoff power, near rotation speed, overtaking an avian friend on the roll.
The point made? The composite structure is no more fragile than a similar aluminum prop, with the same ground-handling operations and repair categories as well. And the performance gains shown by the transition to the new props on its TBM 960, Kodiak 900, and Kodiak 100 Series III models prove their worth. “We are getting lighter weight,” said Nicolas Chabbert, senior vice president of Daher’s Aircraft Division, “and, of course, the low noise and vibration is something that we’re particularly interested in, on the highest power output on the Kodiak 900,” where the Pratt & Whitney PT6A-140A tops out at 950 hp.
