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Turboprop Towing

Be kind to our tug pilots, we cant do without them.
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sruelle
Posts: 17
Joined: 28 Jun 2015, 02:30
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
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Turboprop Towing

Post by sruelle »

My buddy Larry built this winter a 3.2m Pilatus PC6 porter and equipped it with the new Xicoy X45PT.

I figured that it would be nice to see but was a bit scratching my head in regard to the ability to tow and about the noise that thing would make.

I have been towed 10 years ago with the same plane with a jetcat and for me it was noisy and not extremely efficient, here that X45PT is really small, like a can of pop...

Well I have been very positively surprised, first noise wise, I think it is quieter than my bidule with a DA100/cans/tri blades prop, one of the key here is that the noise is higher pitch, not directional like jet so the noise does not travel far, but again it is subjective...

Power wise absolutely no problem towed my 30# 6m ASG29 without blinking...

For sure it is quite expensive, but when you have a noise issue that night save the day

Last production wise, this would work for a club event, not for an intensive aerotow, the best you can do is 4 tows before refueling...

here is a video of our week end, that is a cool factor at the field for sure



Stephane
Pat Marsden
Posts: 121
Joined: 18 Mar 2015, 06:29
Location: Lincolnshire, UK

Re: Turboprop Towing

Post by Pat Marsden »

Very nice, as someone says in the vid it almost sounds like its electric and does make a lovely, scale plane that can be flown as a normal model and not just a tug. At 4 tows before a refill its about as efficient at mass towing as an electric as well. Now, one of those motors in a nice Tucano would be impressive.
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