T56/AeroProducts
Hi Barit1. You are of course correct, the AeroProducts propeller did have its problems, but in a general sense it was very reliable and a less complex propeller than the Hamilton Standard 54H60 series. The accident report to which you refer did not involve the same propeller (A6341FN-DIA) as used on the C130A, which was the 3 Blade 15' diameter Prop, not the 4 Blade A6441 FN-606 series as on the accident aircraft. It took a little patience to set up the AeroProducts in it's basic hydraulic governing mode due to having to shutdown, position the propeller to the applicable index mark, and then make an adjustment to the governor. It was imperative that the oil level was correct as a low level would result in RPM "droop". Once all set up to the same RPM in hydraulic governing using the strobebox and not the tacho, it was a great prop. It could be run with basic hydraulic governing, individual electronic governing (ATE mode) or three slaved to a Master for syncronised operation using either No1 or No2 as the Master. No syncro-phasing was provided and whilst a bit noisier than the HS, due to the reduced tip clearances (15" against 13'6" diameter) it performed very well and was more robust with steel blades rather than aluminium as on the HS.