Prop Arrives! HOBBS 1400.0 hrs

Yesterday, my 200G-CS prop arrived from Whirl Wind Aviation in two cardboard boxes via UPS. Although I was excited beforehand to get this baby, I was overwhelmed at how much I enjoyed unpacking this thing and seeing my paint colors for the first time. You couldn't wipe the smile off my face. 

There is a commonly used phrase in the business world these days, "customer delight"...I know, kinda cheesy but bear with me. The successful businesses (think Apple) achieve customer delight with their products. It becomes an emotional experience for a customer to purchase their product. Why else do you think people camp out in line to get the newest iPad? Emotion...plain and simple, cost no longer matters to them. 

I gotta say, Whirl Wind easily achieved customer delight with me. I was so pleased with this prop, that I forgot how much I paid for it and that's saying something...emotion took over and trumped reason. That's a product that will make a business a lot of money. If this things flies half as good as it looks, they have a customer for life in me.

Take a look at these pictures and you can see why, this is a work of art. Notice how the tip paint goes EXACTLY to the tip of the blade...not 'close enough', but exactly. There was some pride put into these props and its easy to see and recognize if you're looking. That is rare today, no one seems to take pride in craftsmanship anymore. I look for this in things I buy, and was impressed by everything I saw on this prop...nothing was sub-par to my eye. 

Nickel leading edges--protection so it can be flown in the rain and off unimproved strips.

Color matched to paint chips I provided. The yellow is from the yellow on the wing of the red-winged blackbird (see pic on my blog).

I wanted an aggressive looking prop but I was taken aback at how big the chord was on this thing! 8 1/2" at its widest point. It dwarfs the 200RV. You can easily see why this prop is a big time STOL performer. I wonder if I got a big enough engine to swing this monster! :)

Great paint job and Whirl Wind decals...everything is perfect....

Again, notice the tip paint and the nickel leading edge...they both culminate exactly at the tip. This is the "swept tip" option by the way. Highly recommended if you choose this prop/engine setup like I did.

I was expecting the prop to arrive before my engine hanging party...but alas, it didn't make it. If it had arrived, I had planned to put it as the centerpiece on my dining room table like this. How cool would that have been?!? :) Anyway, I think I may leave it here until its ready to mount on the engine.

So, in summary. I am thrilled I went this unconventional route with my prop choice (see my earlier post for my reasoning behind this decision). This prop, on an RV7, will turn a lot of heads on the ramp. As far as I know, my RV will be the first with this prop...but I have a funny feeling it won't be the last. It looks exactly like what I wanted....we'll have to see how it performs in the air, but for now I am ecstatic! No single product I have bought thus far has made me want to get this puppy flying more than seeing this prop.