10 Airplanes Modified for SPEED

so before we get started with this video I wanted to quickly go over the two main types of engines used in propeller driven aircraft now I won't go into detail about how they work this is just kind of for the sake of this video so the first is the piston engine and this is the most popular among smaller aircraft as it is relatively low cost and has a low fuel burn now the piston engine is more similar to the engine in your car as it uses Pistons to create power and this is what it sounds like [Applause] the second type of engine used in propeller driven aircraft is the turboprop now a turboprop is basically a jet engine which is linked to a propeller a turboprop engine is much simpler lighter and much more powerful than its piston counterpart it comes at a cost of high fuel burn and engine price but if you want to turn your airplane into a monster you convert it to a turboprop engine and this is what it sounds like so today I'm going to go over 10 piston airplanes that were converted into turbo props and with the turboprop engine these airplanes become performance demons they can fly higher and faster than with their original engines so let's take a look at some of these beasts our first plane on the list is the Beechcraft Bonanza originally the Bonanza is built with a 285 to 300 horsepower piston engine but with the turboprop it's upgraded to a 450 horsepower rolls-royce or Allison turbine this plane goes from a rate of climb of less than 1,000 feet per minute to over 2,000 feet per minute it screws increases from 160 knots with the original engine up to just over 200 knots with the turboprop and with the turboprop that takeoff distance is shortened from 950 feet down to only 500 80 feet this might be the most popular among the turboprop conversions as it takes a great airplane and makes it even better [Applause] one of the bonanzas main competitors is the Cessna 210 its performance numbers are very similar and in some cases are even slightly better than the bonanzas the pressurized Cessna 210 makes a great candidate to convert into a turbo problem the original Cessna 210 was built with a 310 horsepower piston engine and the turboprop conversion uses a 450 horsepower rolls-royce or allison turbine the piston version cruises at a respectable 190 knots and the turboprop Silver Eagle cruises at over 215 knots at 16,000 feet in this case the top speed only increases slightly with the turboprop engine but the rate of climb goes from 900 feet per minute up to 2,200 feet per minute it also has increased takeoff performance from 1,000 feet down to only 600 feet perhaps this plane was meant to be a turboprop from the beginning moving back to Beechcraft number three comes in as the Duke originally the Beechcraft Duke was powered by two turbocharged 380 horsepower lycoming engines the piston Duke cruises at around two hundred fifteen knots and has a takeoff roll of about sixteen hundred feet a company called rocket engineering took the Duke and gave it to 550 horsepower pratt & whitney turboprops thus turning the plane into the royal duke with the turboprops the Beechcraft Duke easily climbs at 3,500 feet per minute and cruises over 290 knots on a normal day the take-off distance goes from 1500 feet down to 1,000 feet and its landing distance also decreases from 2,000 feet down to 900 the Duke makes a perfect candidate for turboprop engines as it has a pressurized cabin and is built with the strength of Beechcraft [Music] number four has been in the air for over 80 years and there is still nothing that is as utilitarian as the dc-3 it revolutionized air transport and was the most efficient airliner of it's time to put new life into the dc-3 and military version called the c-47 many have been converted to turboprop aircraft the original dc-3 mostly used pratt & whitney twin wasp engines producing 1,200 horsepower each and when converted to a turboprop many dc-3s were given 1,400 horsepower Pratt & Whitney pt6a engines with the turboprop engines the cruise speed increases up to 215 knots from the original 170 knots the conversion also brings a higher useful load of 14,000 pounds the turboprop dc-3s are becoming a more common sight in rough landscapes like Alaska Canada and South America with these new engines there's no end in sight to the air worthiness of the dc-3 number five is an airplane that has been in the air almost as long as the dc-3 the Soviet designed Antonov an-2 is a single-engine 12 passenger biplane that has been one of Russia's most successful and popular aircraft since 1947 the original an twos are powered by a nine-cylinder 1,000 horsepower radial engine and since many are still flying today they are often upgraded to a 1,000 450 horsepower blue schenkopp turboprop engine thus appropriately turning the aircraft into the Antonov a and 3 the piston version cruised at about 100 knots and the turboprop upgrade increased that to 120 knots the am ii was never a speed demon but the turboprop upgrade cut the take-off distance and increase the climb rate to 1,000 feet per minute the useful load is also increased by almost 1,000 pounds to a total of 3,970 pounds the Antonov still might be the largest single engine airplane in the skies today and the turboprop gives it that extra power to make it such a capable aircraft [Music] so now that we've reached the middle of the list here's a friendly reminder to subscribe to the channel your views subscriptions and comments keep the content flowing now let's get back to speed with number six the LAN ser 4p the Lancer 4p is a kit built pressurized for place airplane the Piston variant has a turbocharged 350 horsepower continental engine and can fly at altitudes of 24,000 feet or the aircraft really shines is with the walther 601 E or the Pratt & Whitney pt6 turboprop engine the piston Lance air cruises at 220 knots but when given the 750 horsepower turboprop engine the Lancer has a typical cruise of 325 knots it also gets to altitude very quickly with its climb rate of 4,000 feet per minute the turboprop engine gives the Lancer jet like performance and turns it into the ultimate personal aircraft while we're on the subject of kit bill aircraft number seven comes in as the RV 10 the piston RV 10 is commonly powered by a 250 horsepower lycoming io 540 and cruises at around 170 knots now this is a one-of-a-kind turboprop conversion and it's mainly a proof of concept for the PBS TP 100 light turboprop engine there aren't many turboprop engines for light aircraft in the market but the 241 horsepower TP 100 seems to be promising so where is the plus side with the turboprop engine the answer is climbrate fuel type reliability and engine weight the climb rate of the turboprop RV 10 is around 1,700 feet per minute as compared to the 1,400 feet per minute of the piston engine the turboprop TP 100 only weighs 156 pounds compared to the 380 plus pounds of the lycoming this turboprop is a promising engine that will hopefully be in many smaller aircraft in the future number eight is an aircraft that brings us back to the Golden Age of aviation the Grumman g21 goose the goose is an amphibious 8 seat twin-engine flying boat the original goose uses two 450 horsepower pratt & whitney radial engines and cruises at around 160 knots many of the grumman gooses or geese I guess were converted to have more modern piston engines and then eventually turboprop engines the turboprop conversion gave the goose to 550 horsepower Pratt & Whitney pt6 engines its cruise speed increased to 200 knots and it has a max range of 1,300 nautical miles this is an airplane that can go fast carry a lot and even land on the water [Music] what happens when you take an airplane that was originally designed for a 135 horsepower piston engine and then give it a 450 horsepower turboprops well you get the one-of-a-kind impulse aircraft pocket rocket the impulse 100 is a German built two-seat composite airplane it was designed to use engines between a hundred to 135 horsepower but apparently this wasn't cutting it the fuselage was strengthened tip tanks were added for extra fuel and the impulse was given a 450 horsepower Allisyn turboprop engine with the turboprop the pocket rocket has some serious performance the climb rate is 6,200 feet per minute and it cruises at 280 knots the pocket rocket also handles short mountainous strips with ease I suggest you take a look at some more videos of this plane linked below because it is really impressive [Music] number 10 is the polish built will go the will go is created to be a rugged short takeoff and landing 4c airplane the original will does used a Russian built if chenko radial engine which produced around 260 horsepower later models use the flat continental oh for 70 and then the 300 horsepower lycoming io 540 the piston will does generally take off around 365 feet and cruise at about 90 knots and when converted to a 600 horsepower Walter turboprop like this one the takeoff distance drops to about 230 feet but the most notable turboprop Woolgar and the most famous aircraft of 2018 is the 680 horsepower will go known as Draco built by Mike Beatty the turboprop Draco was originally a loga 2000 PT also did so many modifications that the registration had to be experimental exhibition but there's still a will go somewhere in there Draco can take off in 100 feet and land and about the same it can also cruise at 156 knots at 18,000 feet and it has a climb rate of 4,000 feet per minute Draco is the ultimate bush plane and it is largely due to that amazing turboprop conversion [Music] thank you all for watching and let me know which airplane you'd like to see converted into a turboprop remember to like and subscribe and until next time blue skies and save flying [Music]

Channel: FloridaFlying

Views: 362,175

Rating: 4.8871632 out of 5

Keywords: top, 10, ten, turboprop, turbine, propjet, airplane, best, fastest, experimental, general, aviation, Beechcraft, bonanza, draco, wilga, duke, vans, lancair, iv, reno, redbull, buzzing, buzz, flight, flying, takeoff, fly, turbo, fast, homebuilt, Cessna, plane, flyby, low, pass, audio, jet, rocket, kit, race, flightchops, steveo1kineveo, spotting, airport, speed, performance, mojogrip, airspeed, glasair, 210, 172, cockpit, aerobatics, stol, landing, backcountry, piston, patey

Id: odOVLk_ENzg

Length: 12min 31sec (751 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 02 2019