http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOBxQtF337Q[youtube]

Saw this over on the husky forum. I want one bad!

That looks really cool!

I wonder how those prop loads affect engine life.

Drop in over some trees put stick in ur gut and grab a handful of reverse... Yeah Buddy !!!!

That would sure be handy in the winter on the skis! He's cheating...........

That water's gonna eat up that prop in no time at all...

Still want one...

I would do some homework before putting and $'s into a reversible MT. MT offers a reversible 3 blade prop for the Lake Amphibian. I considered one for my Lake until I started to hear the horror stories from other Lake owners. The short story is basically that when the aircraft is operated in an environment with ambient temps. Above 75 degrees, the reverse will not actuate. The cause is the oil pressure is to low to actuate the reverse at low engine rpm, like when approaching a dock. Some operators have been able to get intermittent operation of the reverse by using straight 50 weight oil, forget about it when using multigrade oil. The reverse option is not cheap, and MT has not had a solution for these people that bought it. MT made a lot of promises to Lake owners including the reverse option as well as increased performance over the original equipment hartzell prop. Many have removed the reverse option and tried to realize the increased performance, only to be met with actual performance much less than with the original hartzell. To make matters worse, many of these MT's have started to delaminate due to the lake's design of the exhaust blowing into the prop. You would think that MT would have realized this potential when they designed the STC. MT has not had much to say to these people except to except to send the prop to Germany for repairs and expect it back in 6-8 weeks. Just hope it does not start to delaminate when you are far from home or a maintenance facility. Hopefully one has a spare prop for the extended downtime as well. This along with high cost and lack of promised performance caused me to go with the tried and true 88" C203 McCauley when my 180 recently needed a prop. Walked out of my local prop shop with brand new prop and spinner for $7500 last year.

I've enjoyed watching the seaplane operations at the docks at Nanaimo several times, a combination of Beavers and turbine Otters. Of course, the Otters all have reversing props, and the Beavers don't. I'm sure it's happened, but I never saw a Beaver pilot hit the docks with anything other than a kiss, even sliding the airplane into a dock spot between two other airplanes--but I saw several Otters bang the docks when their pilots misjudged the effectiveness of trying to stop the forward motion with reverse thrust.

I can see how useful a reversing prop might be, but just like trying to stop a boat's forward motion by throwing it into reverse, it takes an enormous amount of reverse power to do the stopping. Steering in reverse is difficult in a single screw boat; I imagine steering accurately while backing a SE airplane would take one heckuva lot of practice!

Cary

jaudette wrote:That water's gonna eat up that prop in no time at all...

Still want one...

Actually, the stainless leading edge on the MT props tolerate water spray REALLY well. That wouldn't concern me at all with one of these props. A metal prop, yes....they would erode very rapidly used like this.

MTV

I'm a big fan of reverse on seaplanes, it's fun.

I've both "kissed" and "banged" the dock with both beavers and otters countless times, part of doing business in the dynamic environment that is commercial sea-planing.

If you're careful and experienced a little reverse goes a long way towards making consistent and timely solo dockings in adverse conditions with an 8000lb airplane. I can't recommend it enough, if you get a chance give it a try.

So much fun to taxi up to a steep beach, swing it around and then back up, (remember to pull up the water rudders!) shut down and the saunter off the transom without even getting your topsiders wet, awesome!

I'm curious to hear more about this problem in the Lake installation, they (MT) really can't fix it? Would be a real bummer to plan on using reverse and then have it not work, lame!

We have installed two reversing systems to 'Wagons' by field approvals we obtained for the owners. In use now for about 4 years...both love 'em. With the recent approval of our Husky STC to include the reversing prop option, we will be amending our Cessna STC next to have it also include the reversing option. Terry Cartee in Anchorage has had an MT reversing prop on his 200HP PA-18 using it in sand, gravel, water, snow and ice on wheels, skis and floats for 5 years with no issues. He is always at the AK Airman's Show; ask him yourself.

MT has just released a brand new reversing governor for this system. It allows a 0-thrust position for water starts and warm up activities. Changes to the design were made to increase the flow and pressure values. This might be something done to assist with the low oil pressure installations.

People keep incorrectly using the term 'delamination' regarding MT props...this is not a correct term or description. Delamination would describe the separation of the multiple layers of the epoxy/wood core from each other. The only time you wold see that would be on a MT prop that has sacrificed it's life to save an engine during a prop strike with a solid object. Download and read section six (6) of the MT E-124 Owner Manual. They may be describing some wood core shrinkage or surface cracks in the spray fill/primer/paint; but that is cosmetic only and never goes into or through the Kevlar layers below. We have begun doing FAA Approved Continuing Education Seminars to educate A&P's of the care and maintenance of MT props...too many props are showing up at our repair centers that could have been permanently fixed by the owner using 2-part epoxy. The MT prop with it's natural composite core is still the only prop that is rugged enough to take the pounding and power pulses of diesel aircraft engines and survive the water abuse of the Russian Flying Boats.

Kevin Quinn (see his great series of pics and story of his plane on this site) has also introduced his MT prop to water, snow, sand, and grass with no issues.

Of all the planes we support for prop upgrades this backcountry use is the most fun!!!

Cheers!,

John

Here is a YouTube clip of one of our clients' C182 Amphib with the MT reversing prop operating from a VERY short mountain strip in Norway.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgn3N12rTTk

John

Now that you have the STC for reversing Cessna props, Do you have any additional videos or pireps? Is there a weight penalty for the reversing option?

Gonna need a STC for a rear-view mirror!

denalipilot wrote:Gonna need a STC for a rear-view mirror!

Backup camera integrated with EFIS. Minor alteration, logbook entry.

Zzz wrote:

denalipilot wrote:Gonna need a STC for a rear-view mirror!

Backup camera integrated with EFIS. Minor alteration, logbook entry.

Sure! The backup camera on my car is a tiny thing that isn't visible from behind, and when I shift into reverse, the dashboard screen suddenly becomes a TV set. I imagine it wouldn't take $250 in parts to accomplish the task on an airplane, maybe another couple or three hours of labor, so say $500 to actually do it. Of course, then there's the AAO fees, plus the STC costs, so probably no more than $10,000 instead of a $10 mirror. (AAO = Aviation Add On )

Cary