Hartzell Props Power High Proportion of GA Planes
Hartzell propellers are installed on a huge variety of piston singles through commuter turboprops.
Hartzell group president Joe Brown represents the second generation of management since his Naval aviator father, Jim, bought the company from TRW in 1987. He is holding a high-tech composite blade that propels not only a TBM850/900 but also the rising fortunes of all turboprop builders.
Hartzell group president Joe Brown represents the second generation of management since his Naval aviator father, Jim, bought the company from TRW in 1987. He is holding a high-tech composite blade that propels not only a TBM850/900 but also the rising fortunes of all turboprop builders.

The General Aviation Manufacturers Association’s 2013 new-airplane shipment statistics show that new airplanes last year required a tad shy of 2,000 propellers. That might be a mere shadow of the 20,762 props for 17,580 aircraft required in the peak production year, 1978, but it’s an improvement on the 1,300 propellers shipped on new airplanes in 1987, the year Jim Brown and his family bought Hartzell (Booth 1817) from TRW.