Types of Aircraft Propellers

Aircraft propellers are necessary for the motion of any aircraft. The earliest types of propellers are surprisingly similar to the propellers of modern aircraft, although modern propellers are often made of stronger and more powerful materials. IN fact, the initial blades created in the early 20th century by the Wright brothers were only about 5% less efficient than the modern equivalent of those same propellers about 100 years on.

The “airfoil” shape of the contemporary aircraft propeller was actually pioneered by the Wright brothers in the first half of the 20th century–the Wright brothers, who are the fathers of modern flight as we know it, realized that the aircraft propellers were akin to an aircraft wing which needed to be ‘twisted’ to provide the proper motion.

Fixed Pitch Aircraft Propeller

A fixed pitch aircraft propeller is designed as one sole piece. Typically, a fixed pitch propeller–regardless of material–will be using two blades. They are called fixed pitch because there is only one available pitch setting. These propellers are often made from wood or metal.

Fixed Pitch Wooden Propellers

Wooden fixed propellers are hardly found in modern times, but they were incredibly popular before the advent of metal propellers during the 1940s. These wooden propellers are often found on business aircraft and personal aircraft. Contrary to appearance, a wooden fixed propeller is not carved from a block of wood but built layer by layer using specially prepared wood. The most common types of wood used were black walnut wood, black cherry wood, sugar mable wood and yellow birth wood. The wood was specially prepared with a lamination material that would reduce the potential for warping.

Fixed Pitch Metal Propellers

In 1940, the first full-metal aircraft propellers began to be used for military operations. These metal propellers were created using incredibly durable, strong and treated aluminum alloy. This metal material was treated to make it less susceptible to warping from heat damage or cold damage. Metal aircraft propellers have become the standard for almost every type of aircraft—it is very rare to see propellers made from anything but durable metal materials.

Variable Pitch Propellers

A variable pitched aircraft propeller is designed to allow the varying pitch of the aircraft to be changed, which allows for more flexibility of movement and flight than a fixed pitch aircraft. In the past, the variable pitch was often changed manually before flight—or, as in cases of aircraft being used in war—during the flight itself. Today, variable pitch propellers can be changed automatically from a control panel, which makes it easier to control the pitch and avoids the risk of trying to manually handle the metal blades.