Changing the prop on an EASA aircraft
Hi All,
Yes, it's me again!
I have been considering ways of increasing the cruise speed on my 77 Archer II. It has the stock 60" prop on it and indicates the book figure of around 105kts at 75% power. It only has the basic spats so doesn't go much faster. All Archers post 77 have 62" props and full wheel fairings and of course are well known to cruise around ten knots or more faster.
The opportunity to change to a reconditioned 62" prop has come up and I am wondering what the legalities are surrounding the change. In simple terms any change to the basic design and configuration needs an EASA STC to be issued. Trouble is only those post 2003 are listed on their web site so I have no way of knowing if this has been done before. The FAA STC list also shows no previous entries on the subject.
Mention has been made that the change may be accommodated on the Archer 'type certificate' but I can't find anything that relates to pitch, only what the maximum RPM may be. In any event making the change without including the full fairings would create a hybrid configuration that the POH would not provide performance graphs for so I don't see the FAA or EASA wearing that.
Has anyone done this on an EASA aircraft and if so how did you go about it?
Any help appreciated.
BB