2
$\begingroup$

Many aircraft have engine/prop performance information provided by the manufacture such as Bonanza, Cessna, Mooney, etc AND the engine manufacture. The performance or recommended settings may vary between the two-- i.e. Bonanza E-series Continental engines with Hartzell props.

Additionally there may be pilot organizations or other reputable sources that diverge from these manuals. Such as operating the engine LOP (lean of peak).

As a pilot, does one manual have legal precedence or may I choose any source of data for operating the engine and prop?

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
1
  • $\begingroup$ Unless the operation you seek to perform violates a limitation (published specifically as a limitation in the "limitations" section of the POH, or a FAR), you're ok from a legal standpoint. $\endgroup$
    – acpilot
    Apr 11, 2018 at 0:41

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
1
$\begingroup$

FAR Part 91, in a certificated plane, private piot in a private plane, you can fly however you'd like. Charles Lindberg taught lean of peak to pilots on WWII to save fuel for long distance ocean flights.

Check the engine manual, you will find you can fly as lean of peak as you can manage. I find it hard to do with carburated O-360 engine. Usually I lean out until it gets rough, then enrichen some. I just had a 4-channel engine monitor installed, so now I can start experimenting and see how well it really does LOP, maybe playing with some carb heat to help stir up the air flow better. With fuel injection engines, you can adjust/swap out the injectors to get better fuel flow into each cylinder for better lean adjusting.

Leaning helps maintain good fuel/air mixture so you don't run too rich and waste fuel. If you check later year Manuals, you may find better direction on leaning for your engine as well. For the Cessna Cardinal, I have a 1977 POH that I use to supplement my plane's 1973 POH, Cessna got smarter as time went on it seems and some things are covered better.

Flying commercially may be a different manner. There the Company may specify one thing over another, you may not have a choice.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
0
$\begingroup$

You can buy a manual for the Engine from the Engine manufacturer, but it will not take into account the Propeller or the Airframe.
The manual from the Aircraft manufacturer includes parts of the Engine manual, but also takes into account the Propeller and the various interactions between the Engine, the Prop and the Airframe. (eg. RPM bands to avoid with this particular combination of Engine/Prop/Airframe). So the Aircraft manual is the one to follow.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .