19 – Propeller Production Predicaments

This time we hear about what it’s like to build a kit plane and the difficulties that come with flying with friends to different air shows. We also learn how our storyteller started a business making airplane propellers. 

The 5 bladed prop above was made for a group who built a BD5 with a Mazda Rotary engine and needed a small diameter prop that could still give them the performance they needed.

Above are some images that our storyteller had of his Sonerai. Unfortunately, he couldn’t track down that video of his first flight that his brother took.

Ed Sterba

Here is Ed’s propeller workshop in his hangar. This is where he puts on the leading edges and finishes the props with varnish or paint. He has a separate shop where he does most of  his cutting, gluing, and sanding for his prop production.

This is Ed’s Piper Tomahawk, you can’t see it in the picture but the plane has a T-tail and was designed to directly compete with the Cessna 150. The Tomahawk has a bigger fuselage, low wing with highervisability, larger flaps, more fuel, etc.

And there’s me in the plane, and you can see the top of the elevator behind me.