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Aviation glossary

Propeller

Also: airscrew, prop, variable-pitch propeller

Engines

Set of blades with an aerofoil section that, as it rotates, accelerates a large mass of air rearwards to produce thrust for piston and turboprop aircraft.

What it is

Each propeller blade behaves like a rotating wing: its aerofoil section generates a forward force as it moves through the air. The angle at which the blade meets the air is called its pitch. On modern aircraft the pitch is variable, and a governor adjusts it to hold the rotational speed constant so that the engine always runs at its most efficient setting.

Propellers can be feathered, turning the blades edge-on to the airflow to cut drag if an engine stops in flight, and many can also move into reverse pitch to help slow the aircraft on the ground. Modern turboprops have moved to lighter composite blades and to six-blade propellers, as on the ATR 72-600 and the Dash 8-400, which reduce noise and vibration.

On Vuelopedia

ATR 42 / 72 De Havilland Canada Dash 8

Related terms

TurbopropGas turbine engine that drives a propeller through a reduction gearbox, with the propeller rather than the exhaust producing almost all the thrust. Piston engineInternal combustion engine in which pistons, driven by burning a mixture of air and fuel, turn a crankshaft that drives the propeller. ThrustForce produced by an engine as it accelerates air or exhaust gas rearwards, pushing the aircraft forward in reaction. Open rotorTurbine engine whose large blades spin in the open air without a casing, achieving a very high bypass ratio and lower fuel burn than a turbofan. Thrust reverserEngine mechanism that, after touchdown, redirects part of the airflow forwards to help slow the aircraft on the runway.
Whole glossary

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This page was last updated on October 9, 2026

APA

Vuelopedia. (2026, October 9). Propeller. Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/propeller

MLA

“Propeller.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 9 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/propeller. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Vuelopedia. “Propeller.” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 9, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/propeller.

Harvard

Vuelopedia (2026) Propeller. Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/propeller (Accessed: 16 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{vuelopedia_en_glossary_propeller,
  author       = {{Vuelopedia}},
  title        = {{Propeller}},
  publisher    = {Fundación Poderia},
  year         = {2026},
  date         = {2026-10-09},
  url          = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/propeller},
  howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/propeller}},
  urldate      = {2026-10-16},
  note         = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}

Wikipedia

{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/propeller |title=Propeller |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-09 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}

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