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Why are there practically no three engined aircraft in GA?

EAA has had their rebuilt Tri-Motor flying for about a year now.

The very same. Just like a big Cessna. Flies beautifully, extremely stable, easy to co-ordinate. A great, great privilege to be allowed to sit up front and fly the circuit in a 1929 airliner! (Not the landing thank goodness – a light crosswind meant one wheel first, then the other, executed perfectly by my captain). This was at Smyrna, Nashville last month where I’d just checked out in a 172 for a short east coast tour.

They are touring the US this summer and if you get the chance, don’t hesitate.

EGBW / KPRC, United Kingdom

Funny how the engines have no cowling at all (is that the correct word?). But congrats for flying this classic aircraft, Aveling!

Low-hours pilot
EDVM Hildesheim, Germany

Silvaire wrote:

EAA has had their rebuilt Tri-Motor flying for about a year now.

Took a ride in it last year at Osh They got two there last year flying continuously all week.

The elephant is the circulation
ENVA ENOP ENMO, Norway

MedEwok wrote:

Funny how the engines have no cowling at all (is that the correct word?)

Yes, engine cowling is the correct English language term. Cowlings for air cooled engines were in development at about the same time as the Tri-Motor but were used mostly on higher speed planes at first. Maintenance without a cowling is very easy! The ‘speed ring’ was an early development for radial engines, patented in England, and NACA did a lot of work, led by Fred Weick

The modern type of cowling for a horizontally opposed engine was (I believe) introduced in 1937, for the Luscombe Silvaire

Last Edited by Silvaire at 02 Jul 22:41

There was even a 4 engined plane which could go into this cathegory… Some of them were even equipped with IO520’s or 540’s

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Heron

LSZH(work) LSZF (GA base), Switzerland

The first attempt to develop the PA-32 into a MEP consisted of simply bolting two 115 hp O-235’s with fixed prop to the wings of an early, fixed gear Piper Six, and throttle the existing 260 HP engine in the nose back to simulate a 3 × 115 = 345 hp 3-engined Piper Six. Reportedly it performed poorly engine-out, probably due to the non-featherable prop windmilling. Then 3 × 150 hp was attempted, but this meant that constant speed props were now needed x 3, and that was deemed to costly/complex. As I understand it only one prototype was ever involved in this, and the above is the only picture I have ever seen.

Last Edited by huv at 18 Jul 21:02
huv
EKRK, Denmark
37 Posts
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