Tony, Regarding flying behind a fixed pitch prop and a 914, I did just t
hat for a couple of years. As others have mentioned their are a number
of benefits to an in-flight adjustable or constant speed prop. Given t
hat I live in the desert southwest (Las Vegas, NV) I purchased the 914 f
or the express purpose of flying high and I must say I was in fact able
to do just that with fixed pitch prop, however, at much slower speeds an
d poorer fuel economy than with the NSI prop I currently have. As you
climb you will find that one has to continuously throttle back to avoid
over-speeding the engine. The higher you go the less power you are able
to transfer to the prop and the less efficient it becomes; resulting in
a double hit in performance. Installing the NSI was the single biggest
performance improvement I have made to the plane, and it is by no means
an ideal prop. I would never consider going back to a fixed pitch prop
. Just my two cents. Here is a snap shot of a leg from my return trip fr
om Oshkosh: 163 KTAS, 124 KIAS , 5 gal/hr fuel flow, 5,000 rpm, 27.7 in
MP, 14,300 Pressure Alt, 5 deg C OAT, (16,384 density alt). BTW, this w
as the longest leg I have ever flown in the Europa: 5.3 hrs, 745 nautica
l miles, 150 KTS ground speed in cruise, 27.3 gallons. If my math is cor
rect the above works out to 35 statute miles/gal with a ground speed of
173 M.P.H. Not too shabby for a headwind. My ground speed was even more
impressive on the way out OSH. With a tail wind it was over 210 M.P.H
at times burning the same 5 gal/hr. I will take that over driving a c
ar any day! Kind regards, Erich TrombleyN28ET Classic Mono 914
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