J.J. Frigge sees electric-powered airplanes and eVTOLs as the next frontier for Hartzell Propeller. Frigge, president of the 104-year-old propeller systems manufacturer, told AIN the company (Booth 3337) is “tracking and communicating” on more than 200 eVTOL and advanced air mobility (AAM) programs and has test hardware flying on about 10 applications in that space.

Electric engine developer MagniX and its sister company, Eviation, developer of the new Alice airplane, are among the companies Hartzell is working with to develop that market. "I think that…we’re going to be able to adapt our product to what the [electric aircraft] market is going to need,” Frigge said.

Operating from four facilities totaling 240,000 sq ft in Piqua, Ohio, Hartzell is on track to deliver 3,500 propellers this year—amounting to 15,000 blades—for aircraft OEMs and the aftermarket. Hartzell provides original equipment propellers for such aircraft as the Pilatus PC-12 turboprop single and PC-21 military trainer; Daher TBM-series turboprop singles; Cirrus SR20, SR22, and SR22T piston singles; Beechcraft King Air twin turboprops; and Diamond DA-40.  

Frigge added that while new aircraft development in the AAM space may still be far off because of regulatory and certification hurdles, “if you look at the retrofit of existing aircraft like what the guys at [MagniX partner Harbour Air] are doing on the [DHC-2] eBeaver…I do think for specific mission profiles, the short type of missions, we’re going to get to a place where you can adapt a current powerplant to an electric or hybrid solution in the shorter term. You’re just modifying the prop interface from the conventional engine to an electric motor, and it’s very, very similar to what we already do.”

In the longer term, eVTOLs are going to require multiple propellers that will likely have to be fixed-pitch, high-quality, safe, made of lightweight carbon fiber, and simple in construction “because you need them to be fairly inexpensive.

“I think that’s where the market demand is going to be in the coming years as these products develop,” he added. “We’re really trying to be on the front side of this innovation so that we can partner with newer technology on the powerplant side and provide solutions to help optimize the horsepower generation of the newer technologies.”

An obvious key to playing a role in the eVTOL space is the use of composites, and Hartzell has a great deal of experience employing them in its manufacture of propellers. While Frigge said Hartzell continues to produce more metal propellers than composite ones, over the past six years it has seen “significant growth” in composite propellers. Besides offering weight savings, composite propellers are “a little bit better” at absorbing vibration and improving airplane performance, and are as durable as aerospace-grade aluminum, he said.

When Frigge joined the company in 2011, it had six employees in its composite facility. By the end of this year, it will have 40 there. “We’re manufacturing composite blades seven days a week, 24 hours a day, at this point,” he said. “That provides some pretty significant growth for the company on the employee base, as well as the revenue side.”

Frigge doesn’t anticipate a time when composite propellers will replace metal ones. “It’s a tried-and-true technology,” he said. “There are many applications where metal is the appropriate material.” That would include agricultural aviation and airplanes of the type manufactured by Air Tractor. “When an ag operator has a bad day and they get into a wire or something, the metal blade will get twisted or might bend or something like that, but it certainly won’t shear like a carbon-fiber blade might.”

Besides, Frigge said, Hartzell is “really big on keeping airplanes in the air,” including legacy aircraft. To that end, it’s important to the company that it is keeping those customers in an “economical propeller overhaul situation,” he said. “So we’re stocking and still producing components and blades for prop systems that go all the way back to the 1950s.”

But propeller systems and blades aren’t Hartzell’s only business. Aluminum and composite spinners, governors, and propeller de-ice and ice protection make up another part of its business to provide complementary products. In fact, in July the company acquired the assets of Tanis Aircraft Products in Minnesota. This acquisition served to expand Hartzell's business in heated products, specifically systems for propeller de-ice, piston and turbine engine preheat, helicopter preheat, battery, avionics, and cabin preheat.