Why use turboprops

Capable of cruising at higher altitudes The average light jet will cruise at an altitude of 41, feet and is capable of a maximum altitude of 45, feet. Faster and quieter Expect to arrive at your destination faster in a jet than you would in a turboprop. Longer range Thanks to their faster cruising speeds and ability to fly at higher altitudes where their efficiency is improved, light jets are capable of an extended range from 1, to over 2, miles.

Jet Disadvantages 1. Require longer, concrete runways Jets may do well with flying into standard airports, but if you want to explore a more remote area with a short runway or unimproved grass airstrip, you will be out of luck with a jet.

More expensive to charter, insure and maintain In , the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association AOPA published a detailed breakdown of hourly operating costs for both jets and turboprops. Turboprop vs Jet — Which should I choose? What type of flights is a turboprop best for? Mid-to-long-range flights Flights for which the shortest possible flight time is preferred Flights for which reduced cabin noise and turbulence are primary concerns. Tags: Education. Previous article Next article.

Featured products. Bose View. Join Us A short sentence describing what someone will receive by subscribing. Follow us. High Flying Models View. For these reasons, turboprops are often used on shorter trips. They cost about the same as a light jet for a one-hour flight; for flights over one hour, the light jet will usually be cheaper, as even though light jets are more expensive than turboprops, they also fly faster and will spend less billable time in the air.

The longer the trip, the higher the savings of using a light jet over a turboprop. Charter Quote. Now Hiring! PBJ Logo. PBJ Mobile Logo. Get a Quote. Private Jet Charter. Traveling with Pets. Business Jet Charter. Torque on the remaining right engine will induce a roll to the right, gyroscopic effects from the nose up pitch induces a left hand turn, and most critically the thrust vector is offset outboard to the right due to P-factor.

Setting aside mechanical complexity, turboprop engines themselves are not less safe, but rather the resulting installation effects add a layer of risk that is less prominent in multi-engine turbofan aircraft. Turbofan engines are able to be mounted much more closely to the aircraft fuselage and thus benefit from dramatically reduced asymmetric thrust effects in the event of an engine failure. This is not to say that torque and gyroscopic precession do not occur in these engines, but the effects are substantially reduced.

Turbofan installations also benefit from reduced mechanical complexity as they do not require the large reduction gearboxes needed to slow turboprop propellers to appropriate speeds. Additionally, because turbofans supply substantial amounts of thrust using bypass air, the engine may provide bleed air for anti-icing, pressurization and other systems. Turboprops in contrast do not have any bypass air, making the use of bleed air a substantial impact to overall engine performance.

As a result, turbofan aircraft tend to have more robust pneumatic systems relative to their turboprop cousins. The primary differentiation between turboprops and turbofans with regard to efficiency is operating speed range; this is primarily the result of aerodynamic properties of propellers and turbofan engines. Ultimately efficiency and performance are related, but it is useful to understand that both engines are only capable of producing thrust so long as they are able to accelerate air to a speed higher than the surrounding airspeed.

If for a second we limit the increased blade area to diameter only using two or three blades, the A would have enormously huge props. As a result much of the blade would operate in the sonic to supersonic range because as propeller diameter increases, propeller tip speed increases, meaning that sufficiently large propellers approach or break the speed of sound at the tip of the propeller.

Once propellers enter the trans-sonic to sonic speed range, efficiency and thrust output drops dramatically as shockwaves destroy the lift that results in thrust.

Functionally most turboprops are limited to or RPM as a result of the large diameter props. For example, the Cessna Denali has a 5 blade inch prop that will operate between and RPM depending on phase of flight. Any faster rotational speeds would start to structurally overload the blades and mostly turn fuel into noise instead of thrust. As turboprops climb to higher altitudes, shock formation begins to occur sooner due to higher true airspeeds, which effectively limits propeller performance.

As a result, most turboprops are limited to Mach 0. These aircraft use complex propeller designs and massive engines; but still operated well below the Mach 0. A range of propeller design techniques are available to achieve high cruise speeds, from increasing the number of blades, to the use of finely tuned swept blade tip designs to improve high speed efficiency.

Compressor sections require intake air to remain within a specific velocity range, notably sub-sonic. Intakes are designed to manage intake air and slow it to the appropriate speed. Turbofan thrust at a given altitude is fairly constant across the operating speed range, allowing the aircraft to continue accelerating at higher altitudes. Altitude effects on turbofan engines are driven primarily by the availability of air to be burned, meaning total available thrust decreases with altitude.

Because turbofans continue to produce thrust at high speeds, the aircraft is able to balance reduced thrust output at altitude against lower atmospheric density. The bottom line is that turboprop aircraft is perfect for shorter regional routes, while the jet engine is for long haul flights with larger aircraft. Some research has been done on engines that marry both advantages together, but none has yet reached the market.

Journalist - Working in news media for over a decade with outlets including 9News and the Discovery Channel, Nick is an airline marketing specialist with a Masters level education. Working closely with AirAsia, Virgin Australia, Turkish Airlines and others, Nick provides unique insight and analysis on a variety of aviation topics.

Based in Sydney, Australia. Nicholas Cummins Journalist - Working in news media for over a decade with outlets including 9News and the Discovery Channel, Nick is an airline marketing specialist with a Masters level education.