Raisbeck Engineering’s latest development in swept-blade propeller technology, the new Composite Swept-Blade 5-way Propeller for the Beechcraft King Air 350 series, has begun FAA certification flight testing at Boeing Field in Seattle.
The Raisbeck/Hartzell team completed all ground and flight vibration and governor output pressure surveys Sept. 7. The program began company and FAA certification flight testing the following Monday, scheduled to be completed by the end of September.
The cooperative development program between Raisbeck and Hartzell is the third in the Swept-Blade series; the first two were for the King Air 200 and C90/E90 series. Both programs have proven very successful in sales and deliveries since the launch of the partnership in late 2009, company officials noted.
Since deliveries began in January, 1985, there are close to 1,500 airplanes equipped with Raisbeck/Hartzell propellers, officials reported.
Joe Brown, President of Hartzell Propellers Inc, commented “Working side by side with Raisbeck Engineering for over a third of a century has been enormously gratifying to both our companies, in terms of technology advancement and resultant sales. For us, we wouldn’t change a thing about our relationship. As someone once said, ‘If it works, don’t fix it’. We expect to continue down this path.”
Raisbeck Engineering’s CEO James Raisbeck added his support saying, “Our parallel development and certification programs began with an honest look at how we could work together to maximize the benefits to our customers, while minimizing the cost and calendar time to achieve our desired results.”
The new King Air 350 propellers will be introduced at this year’s NBAA in October, with production deliveries scheduled for July, 2015. Raisbeck will also offer an official “King Air 350 5-Bladed Propeller Wait List” at NBAA, which will not require a deposit but will be on a first-signed, first-availability basis. More details and preliminary performance improvements will be available at NBAA in Orlando, Florida this year.
For more information: Raisbeck.com, HartzellProp.com