Press Releases

PIQUA, Ohio — June 23, 1999 — Hartzell Propeller Inc. announced today that its 93-inch diameter three-bladed aluminum, fully reversing turbine propeller system for the Turbo Raven recently helped the aircraft achieve a series of new world climb records. The Turbo Raven is a highly advanced, light weight carbon graphite based aircraft intended for high performance airshow work.

Piloted by airshow performer Wayne Handley, the Turbo Raven set new records for time to 3,000 meters of 1 minute 9 seconds, and bested all other propeller driven climb records. Previous climb records that were broken included the turboprop class record of 1 minute 48 seconds set by Chuck Yeager in a Piper Cheyenne 400LS and a turboprop sub-class record of 2 minutes 18 seconds set by an Allison powered Bücker Jungmeister. Handley also beat the all time propeller-driven climb record set by Lyle Shelton in a highly modified Grumman Bearcat of 1 minute 31 seconds. Upon completion of the successful attempt, Handley said “… that propeller was diggin like a prop in water … it was a rocket.”

After setting the new record, Handley wanted to improve the aircraft’s performance for his airshow routine. Hartzell was able to increase the aircraft’s static thrust by a whopping 34% by changing to a very wide-chord, 100 inch diameter three-bladed composite propeller. With this added performance, the Turbo Raven now has a static thrust-to-weight ratio of almost 1-1/2 to 1 allowing it to perform what Handley describes as a Vertical Stop and Go maneuver, where the aircraft climbs vertically-stops-hovers-and then continues the vertical climb. After trying it for the first time Handley said, “the power of this prop is amazing!” This new prop will also be used to attempt the 6,000-meter climb record on July 31 at the EAA Airventure 1999 at Oshkosh.

Hartzell Propeller Inc. is the world’s leading manufacturer of propeller systems, shipping into more than 25 countries in 1998. Hartzell enjoys a 60 percent market share on turboprop airliners and 85 percent market share on corporate turboprops. The 82-year old company is also well-known for its design leadership, having introduced the industry’s first full-feathering propeller for light twins, the first fully reversing propellers for corporate turboprops and the industry’s first composite structure blades.

Hartzell World Record Applications:

ABSOLUTE WORLD RECORDS

Voyager:

Speed around the world, non-stop, non-refueled
Great circle distance without landing
Distance in a closed circuit without landing
All of the Absolute records for propeller driven aircraft

OVERALL CLASS RECORDS – PISTON ENGINE

Piper Aerostar 601P – Altitude in horizontal flight (31,791 ft)

Piper Aerostar 601P – Speed around the world, eastbound

Piper Aztec – Speed around the world, westbound

Piper Navajo – Speed around the world over both poles

Piper Navajo – Speed from equator to equator over a pole

Piper Navajo – Speed from North Pole to South Pole

Plus 27 additional sub-class records

OVERALL CLASS RECORDS – TURBOPROP ENGINE

Grob/E-Systems Egrett-1 – Altitude without payload (53,574 ft)

Grob/E-Systems Egrett-1 – Altitude with 1,000 kg payload (51,023 ft)

Grob/E-Systems Egrett-1 – Altitude in horizontal flight (53,276)

Turbo Raven – Time to climb to 3,000 meters

E-Systems LTV L450F – Time to climb to 15,000 meters

Plus 15 additional sub-class records

OVERALL CLASS RECORDS – SEAPLANE / AMPHIBIAN

Lake Renegade – Altitude in horizontal flight (27,100 ft)

Cessna 206 – Speed over a 15/25km course

Grumman G44 Widgeon – Speed over a 15/25km course

Plus 24 additional sub-class records

U.S. NATIONAL RECORDS

Boeing Condor – Altitude (67,028 ft)

Boeing Condor – Altitude in horizontal flight (66,980 ft)

Plus more than 600 other recognized performance records.

Team Turbo Raven can be seen at the following airshows:

March 13: NAF El Centro 1999 Air Show El Centro, CA
April 10, 11: Airfest ’99 March AFB, CA
May 1, 2: The Shell Air and Sea Show, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
May 14, 15, 16: The Joint Services Open House, Andrews AFB, MD
June 4, 5, 6: Aerospace America International Airshow, Oklahoma City, OK
June 12, 13: Idaho Aerofair, Boise, ID
June 19, 20: Wings Over Moffett, Moffett Field, CA
June 26: Air Expo ’99, Marysville, CA
July 3, 4: The Team US National Hot Air Balloon Championships & Air Show, Battle Creek, MI
July 17, 18: Aviation Expo ’99 Van Nuys, CA
July 28 – Aug 3: EAA Airventure, Oshkosh, WI
August 7, 8: Seafair, Seattle, WA
August 21, 22: Fargo Airshow, Fargo, ND
August 28, 29: Thunder in the Air, Thunder Bay, Ontario
September 4, 5, 6: Canadian International Air Show, Toronto, Ontario
September 16-19: National Championship Air Races, Reno, NV
September 25, 26: Wings Over Stockton, CA
October 2, 3: California International Airshow, Salinas, CA
October 8, 9, 10: Fleet Week, San Francisco, CA
October 16: Santa Barbara, CA
October 17: Las Cruces, NM
October 23, 24: Sierra Vista Air Show, Sierra Vista, CA
October 13, 14: Luke AFB Open House Airshow, Luke AFB, AZ