ASCALON 2-Blade validated on the Continental O-200

Another important milestone for the ASCALON program: our 2-blade carbon propeller has successfully completed its ground-test campaign on a direct-drive Continental O-200.

The ASCALON range continues to move forward.
After extensive design work, simulation and testing on direct-drive engines, we have now completed a new series of tests with the ASCALON 2-blade installed on a Continental O-200.
The configuration tested was: ASCALON-2 – 2 blades – 74 in / 188 cm diameter – ground-adjustable pitch – direct-drive Continental O-200.
And the results are excellent.

From the Ratier 2446 to ASCALON

There is an interesting story behind this test.
In January 2025, the owners of the aircraft featured on the SpeedJojo blog came to E-PROPS with their Ratier 2446 propeller. We scanned this well-known French propeller as part of our development work on the new generation of E-PROPS propellers for direct-drive aircraft engines.
And now, the story continues — this time with an ASCALON mounted on a Continental O-200.
And before even starting the engine, the difference on the scales is striking.

That means a weight saving of 10.2 kg — 22.5 lb — right at the nose of the aircraft.
In other words, the complete ASCALON installation is 57% lighter than the Ratier installation. For an aircraft of this category, that is a very significant difference.

Instrumented with ELIAS

Of course, validating a propeller is not simply a matter of mounting it, running the engine and saying that it feels good.

The tests were performed using ELIAS, our in-house data-acquisition system, directly integrated into the propeller installation.

ELIAS allows our engineering team to record and analyze the actual behavior of the engine–propeller combination, including vibration and blade-root loads. The complete ELIAS system developed by E-PROPS can also acquire propeller thrust and torque, RPM, pressures, temperatures and other parameters during our test campaigns.
This is especially important with direct-drive engines: the propeller is directly exposed to the engine’s torsional excitation, so the complete engine + propeller system has to be considered.

This is exactly the philosophy behind ASCALON development. Our LUKY software models the complete engine–propeller combination from both aerodynamic and mechanical perspectives, including vibration analysis and service-life calculations. The Continental O-200 is one of the direct-drive engines included in this development program.

Excellent results on the O-200

The recorded data from this ground-test campaign gave us excellent results.
The ASCALON 2-blade is now validated on the Continental O-200.

This represents another important step in the development and validation of the ASCALON family for direct-drive Continental and Lycoming engines.
Light weight, full-carbon construction, titanium leading-edge protection, optimized blade geometry — and, above all, extensive instrumented testing before we validate an application.
That is how we develop propellers at E-PROPS.

Next step: Ratier vs ASCALON in flight

The scales have already given us the first comparison: 17.8 kg vs 7.6 kg.
Now comes the part every pilot wants to see: the flight comparison.

The aircraft will be flown with the ASCALON so that its performance can be compared with the Ratier installation in real operating conditions : takeoff, climb, cruise, RPM, vibration, overall behavior…
The comparative flight tests are coming soon.

Stay tuned!