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From: CMP.WERNER@UTEXAS-20.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.aviation
Subject: New Engine Unveiled
Message-ID: <12373@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 25-Sep-84 18:12:36 EDT
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.12373
Posted: Tue Sep 25 18:12:36 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 30-Sep-84 00:45:42 EDT
Lines: 45

From:  Werner Uhrig  

[ just read this in the local paper ]

General Electric unveiled an unducted fan engine recently at the
International Air Show in Farnborough, England.  A propfan engine
like this one, which the company says is more fuel efficient, may
power future jet-liners.  An Wmerican plane manufacturer is already
testing the design.  The engine's two bands of short propeller blades rotate in opposite directions.

[ a photo accompanying these lines shows a rather fat looking engine pod,
tapering to a rather thin tail-end (might be my misconception due to the
perspective). At the tail are 2 circular sections with 8 prop-blades each,
looking somewhat like shark-fins.

2 requests for comments:

1. am I mistaken that it always seems that such announcements are always
   done overseas, England, France, Germany, mostly, and never in the US?
   are all air-shows of importance in Europe?

2. these 2 bands of counter-rotating prop-blades remind me of the blades in
   my mixer.  Now when I try to imagine the air-flow between them, I can't
   help but think that they must be interfering with each other something
   fierce.  How can one prop try to pull the air into a clock-wise circular
   motion and not be interfered with by another prop right behind, trying to
   force the airflow into a counterclockwise rotation?  On a Cessna 310
   pull-push configuration, there is, at least, the length of the passenger
   cell between the 2 props, but in this case it doesn't look like more than
   inches.

[ when the blimp was visiting Austin 10 days ago for the Auburn-game,
  I went up to take a closer look while he was doing his 3-day PR-stuff
  of taking dealers and other folks that Goodyear would like to ingratiate
  for rides - right, I was not one of those - and I had my first REAL taste
  of the disadvantages of the new "Austin Airport Radar Service Area" (ARSA)
      -  THEY WOULDN'T LET ME IN BELOW THE 4000ft HAA upper limit
  of the control zone.   And the blimp, of course was down there at 2000ft. ...

  Boy, I hate blimps and ARSAs and other traffic and controllers and ....((-:

  well, I wasn't sure if anyone has any ideas on how to tempt a blimp to leave
  an ARSA, or how to shoot one down to inspect it closely on the ground then ...
]
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