? for AMF Ho drivers

M

minitour

New Member
Just wondering what mods you have on your Chieftains (specifically speed, weight and that STC they were working on to replace the heater) and if you know where a potential/prospective buyer could look to see a list of mods/STCs for the Chieftain.

Interested in anything that would apply to a pt 135 pax and pt 91 "business" transport. Also, if you know, what are your basic operating costs (hourly) on the chieftains?

Thanks.

-mini
 
$350 an hour.

Dunno about the mods to tell you the truth. The way Amflight operated their Chieftains was to use the lowest numbers for any aircraft in the fleet across the board so you were not breaking limitations, hence the reason you can't blow the gear until 125 knots.
 
jtrain609 said:
$350 an hour.

Dunno about the mods to tell you the truth. The way Amflight operated their Chieftains was to use the lowest numbers for any aircraft in the fleet across the board so you were not breaking limitations, hence the reason you can't blow the gear until 125 knots.
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Gotcha. I know we had several with the increased TOW (VG) kit at Airnet as well as some with the gear strut (landing weight) increase. I was wondering if there's any real speed mods out there.

Thanks for the number, that's a good place for us to start. If you don't mind, at what power settings/fuel flows did you see those numbers?

The client isn't really interested in going slow to save fuel, so we'll need to adjust.

-mini
 
minitour said:
Gotcha. I know we had several with the increased TOW (VG) kit at Airnet as well as some with the gear strut (landing weight) increase. I was wondering if there's any real speed mods out there.

Thanks for the number, that's a good place for us to start. If you don't mind, at what power settings/fuel flows did you see those numbers?

The client isn't really interested in going slow to save fuel, so we'll need to adjust.

-mini
Click to expand...

Well, I'm guessing a tiny bit since it's been so long, but I believe we flew at 26 inches, which resulted in...uhm...100 degree's lean of peak, so I have no idea what fuel flow was, and I think 2,400 RPM?

That $350 an hour number SHOULD be based on those numbers, as they were the only ones we used in cruise when I was there. I can tell you the plane was slow at that power setting, maybe 160-165 knots? Not exactly speedy.

You can run the living crap out of the engines and get the plane to go a bit faster. For real speed numbers you want to talk with some Airnet guys, as they flew those things like they stole em. Amflight was more interested in fuel conservation when I was around.

EDIT: Also, just sent an e-mail to a guy I know that's still flying Chieftains for Amflight, so he should have some info.
 
jtrain609 said:
You can run the living crap out of the engines and get the plane to go a bit faster. For real speed numbers you want to talk with some Airnet guys, as they flew those things like they stole em. Amflight was more interested in fuel conservation when I was around.
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We flew them at (going to the "way back machine") 30" and 2400 at 200 ROP, IIRC. I got to demo one a few weeks ago at "book power" (30", 2400, 60gph). Quick, but at 60gph...I'm not sure indicating 210 knots is worth it, but if that's what el cliente wants and they're writing the checks, who am I to argue?

Thanks for the help.

-mini
 
AirNet cruise is 33" 2400rpm and 200 ROP. Gives about 180 true down low at 50-54gph. If you are looking to buy and have the money, a guy where I instructed completely remodeled Navajos. Those things were gorgeous. New interior, paint and avionics. The most common mod that I've seen on the Navajos is the Panther coversion with the winglets and 4bladed q-tipped props. Supposedly the conversion adds about 20 knots.
http://www.mikejonesaircraftsales.com/inventory.htm

http://www.colemill.com/Conversions.php
 
jtrain609 said:
Well, I'm guessing a tiny bit since it's been so long, but I believe we flew at 26 inches, which resulted in...uhm...100 degree's lean of peak, so I have no idea what fuel flow was, and I think 2,400 RPM
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26" and 2300 rpm at 75 degrees rich of peak, not to exeed 1500 degrees. Gets about 150 knots or so on the -350 and 140 or so in the -310. Mini, don't think i've seen any with the vgs, or landing weight increase. Dunno about the operating costs, but it burns about 16 gph a side (100LL).
 
Scooter's got it. My buddy said that after a few years of this (he was in the class after mine), he finds the thing burns 3.6 lbs. per minute, and I can tell you that for descent planning we were anticipating 3 miles per minute (180 knots in the descent, obviously). He also said that you'll get 160 TAS at 7,000 or 8,000 with the Amflight power settings.

So between that and what you know about how Airnet flew them, I think you get a pretty good idea of what the aircraft is capable of.
 
jtrains got the downlow... 3.6 on the pa31-350 and 3.2 on the pa31-310 at those power settings. I don't think we had any -310s at airnet, did we?
 
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