propeller positions

[Sentinel Chicken]

OK, did anyone else as a kid hold their model airplanes out the car window so the props would spin? I lost a prop that way once...blew right off  

Lost a prop? I lost an ENTIRE airplane doing that.

And as for running around the house making silly airplane noises, I'm all about that. Particularly with my 1/400 jetliners. The missus wouldn't let me paint a red and white checkerboard on the side of the fridge as I wanted to pretend my kitchen island was Kai Tak so I could shoot IGS 13 approaches while making silly turbofan noises.

Bummer.  

[philp]

If you have a question on how a particular plane usually had its props, go to google images and check.
Here is a pic of a B-26 with one + and one x.
Other pics show both at x so think it is mainly up to you.

[The Rat]

Here is a pic of a B-26 with one + and one x.

Notice that they're doing maintenance. They may have rotated the prop to that point to bring a certain part into just the right position for easy work.  

I'm certain though that in many cases the engines would be turned off, the props would stop wherever they liked, and they would just be left like that.  

[Jschmus]

I've been around the Mohawks at CHAC when they're flying, and the props are hand-rotated to the Y position after the engines stop.  When the aircraft is tied down, the props are fixed into that position.  I don't know the reasoning, though.

[naoto]

Seriously? I like to spin mine so it doesn't matter, whenever I walk by a prop I spin it so they tend to point wherever they stop 


Jeff G.

Most of the model aeroplanes I've got with propellers are of the flying variety (come to think of it... the only ones with propellers I still have are of the flying variety), and the propellers don't always stay in one position (they tend to windmill).  And yes, I do have a few with three and four-blade props (most are affixed only for display and are replaced with a more standard two-bladed one for actual flight, though there are a few that are indeed equipped with three or four bladed props for flight).

BTW Jschmus, have I seen you somewhere before?  You look...familiar for some reason...  

[Eddie M.]

Spent a few years as a Ramp Rat, and I can honestly say that I haven't heard the 'martini glass' bit. The way we used to do it was this - twin-blades were always placed vertically for two reasons, it means that only one bird can 'sit and poo-poo' on it, rather than a bunch of them holding a union meeting side by side and fouling the entire length of it, and it means that when you're walking and working around the aircraft you don't accidentally walk into one of the blades. Try it sometime, they don't have to be turning to hurt!

Three-bladed props were arranged as an upside-down Y, again for safety. If you do walk into a blade you would rather take a sore shin than a gash on the head or face.

Four-bladed? Not too many of those around a small airport, but I would place them in the X position, again, to narrow the area in which you could impact a blade.

NOTE: Before positioning a blade ensure that there is nobody in the aircraft, chocks are in place, and the master switch is OFF!  

You brought back a memory about prop arcs. Before I went into the Navy, I was at one of many airshows. I walked thought the prop arc of a static display and some guy looks at me and says I'm going to get myself killed if I keep doing it. I'm thinking, absolute lunatic.

I joined the Navy, and when I was assigned to the flight deck, I was taught to NEVER walk through a prop arc of a parked airplane. Bad habit, I was told, as one day you might try it while the engine was turning( especially at night, when a turning prop is invisible) and end up with a haircut down to the knees. To this day, I walk around, not through. Personally preference, I guess. My name is Eddie and thanks for letting me share.    

[Gary]

My Dad tells a gruesom story about a group of guys who were driving the baggage carts at either Goose Bay or Gander (don't remember which) and drove under the wings of a Super Connie and both engines were running. Batted the guys between the engines and the local fire department guys had a heck of a time matching all the correct parts for their respective owners so they cound be buried.

Dads best friend was standing on a garbage can peeking into the hanger window and when the fireman pulled a head from the box of body parts he fell off the garbage can and broke his leg.