PA-31-350 tips/tricks?

Baronpilot244

Baronpilot244

Killick Stoker
Hey all,

I may be flying a Nastyho Chieftain in the near future. Took a short flight in it yesterday and shot some approaches, did some airwork etc. I have to do an IPC in the plane to satisfy the insurance and then I'll be let loose on the world :eek:

I'd be grateful for any tips or tricks! It's a bit different to the Baron, but on the whole a pretty decent flying aircraft. Has VGs ad a reasonable avionics package (430 and Sandel EHSI).

I'd be interested to hear what kind of fuel burns to expect etc - I had it dialed back to about 18 galls per side in cruise yesterday, but it didn't stay there for long as we were busy with approaches and so on.

Thanks for the help in advance

Bp244 - or maybe that should be ex-Bp244
 
Tip: Don't forget the additional flaps at the first speed (what is it, 150?). Often I would find myself not slowing as much as I'd need (gear speed) coming down the ILS only to realize I had another 10 degrees of flaps I could toss out. They certainly help going down and slowing down.

Try to remember to pump the gear doors open on preflight so you can 1) check the hydraulic pumps one at a time and 2) look up in there!!!!

LOP is the way to go if you've got proper engine monitoring equipment/GAMIs. It's cleaner, cooler and cheaper.

Make sure the pilot door is secured. It will open in flight if it isn't...it just kinda hangs out there a few inches open but that can make it quite cold inside.

I never really thought it was ready to fly at "rotate" speed. I think a higher speed makes it "want" to fly a little better. Plus, I don't like hanging out below Vyse trying to climb away from the runway if I don't have to. It will fly, but it just doesn't "feel" quite as ready as other planes do. It's hard to put it into words, but I'm sure you understand.

Speaking of doors...that damn door in the back is a pain. Make sure you REALLY shut and secure it or you'll get an annunciator in turbulence. That's a real joy.

Other than that, it loads a little forward when empty (IIRC) and it's a pretty good airplane, to be honest. Would have no problems flying one again even single pilot no autopilot (hint hint anyone?!). Stable, easy airplane. Enjoy!

-mini
 
Baronpilot244 said:
Hey all,

I may be flying a Nastyho Chieftain in the near future. Took a short flight in it yesterday and shot some approaches, did some airwork etc. I have to do an IPC in the plane to satisfy the insurance and then I'll be let loose on the world :eek:

I'd be grateful for any tips or tricks! It's a bit different to the Baron, but on the whole a pretty decent flying aircraft. Has VGs ad a reasonable avionics package (430 and Sandel EHSI).

I'd be interested to hear what kind of fuel burns to expect etc - I had it dialed back to about 18 galls per side in cruise yesterday, but it didn't stay there for long as we were busy with approaches and so on.

Thanks for the help in advance

Bp244 - or maybe that should be ex-Bp244
Click to expand...

Great airplane to fly.

We always planned for 40 gallons for the first hour, 30 for the second. Then Penn Yann overhauled our engines and we went to 50 the first hour and 40 the second. Never could get a good explanation for that. After I left I understand they had to send the engine back because of the cam. Lesson, those engines are damn near bullet proof.

Watch the huge rise in MP when the turbo's kick in, hold the brakes a little bit. Also, on the go around there is no need to go back to props forward, it climbs just fine at 32-34" and 2300.

She lands great, and has a great feel. Go easy on the rotation. I flew in the Northeast with none of that gps crap. She's a solid airplane, and a hell of a ride.
 
The throttles will take a week or so before you're good at getting exactly what you want every time.

There's a lot of flaps on the plane, when you go to 40 deg be aware of the airspeed.

Make sure you look for the gear handle to snap back to neutral, otherwise there's a chance the doors are still open.

ALWAYS check the nose door to be sure it's locked, every time - there are a lot of accidents from the nose door coming open (adds a lot of drag, and interrupts airflow to the left engine, from what I read in some NTSB reports).

Starting in very cold weather can be difficult, when in doubt it needs more fuel. Lots of fuel. More than that.

Be careful loading small pieces is the left wing locker, they can roll forward of the spar and be tough to get out.

A bit touchy if you have a very aft CG, if you have pax you may want to hand fly as the autopilot can get excited (up, down, up, down, up, down).

Cool the turbos after landing, otherwise you can burn up the seal and throw a pretty good smoke screen out the back.
 
We ran ours rich to cool the engines a bit because the contractor was paying for the gas. We got about 40-42 gph.

The cord on the rear door can be a PITA when closing or opening don't be afraid to wrestle a little.

Advance the power smoothly and slowly on take off maybe a 3-4 count to full throttle if you arent use to turbo's.

As mentioned if you have a crew door make sure that thing is closed. Same with the nose.

It's a much happier CG forward than CG aft airplane.

Enjoy it they are pretty nice piston airplanes. I've flow most light/medium piston twins (with the exception of a skymaster) and I'd say the PA-31 is a better plane than its cessna/beech counter parts. I'd say its a better flying airplane and more forgiving than a Baron and it out performs the 402 by quite a bit.
 
Have fun with it. It's pretty cool looking at the engine cowlings at night, seeing those exhaust ducts glowing red hot in the rain...
 
Thanks, everyone this is great information and funny enough today's problem is the landing gear.

The handle won't come back to neutral when pulling the gear up and the inboard gear doors stay open giving us a gear unsafe light in the cockpit. We checked the reservoir on landing and it is full. The mechanic suspects the "up" switches are the problem.

Definitely likes a smooth and steady application of the throttles on takeoff as well as plenty of power on final with full flaps. I'm flying per the POH at 110mph on final slowing to about 95 over the fence - seems to work well.
Evidently the VG kit makes things a good bit more stable.

It is a fun airplane to fly and I would agree its more forgiving and easier to land than the Baron.

Anyone know what the fix is for this gear problem - the mechanic didn't seem to convinced he knew what was wrong.......

Bp244
 
When running the Navajo at Wings Air, we had to stop dropping the doors on preflights. Getting too much air in the lines and it was causing the doors not to close after takeoff.

I'd teach the other Captains/FO on IOE to fly 32/2200 on the "downwind" of the approach. 30 inches on "base". As you join final, you should be within Flaps 10 range...go to flaps 10 on the intercept...intercept and go to 2400 with props (should drop to 28"MP)...within gear down speed, gear down...and it'll fly a nice stable approach at 150kts. We had to fly 150 into ATL, but if you want to keep the speed up...works out nicely. I hardly ever landed flaps 40, mainly flaps 25.
 
minitour said:
You're getting a satisfactory preflight test on the doors/pumps?

-mini
Click to expand...

Yes - we checked out the right pump on the start and the left on shut down - both checked out OK.
When the gear is down the doors will close - just having trouble on the up cycle.

Surferlucas - I've also been told not to drop the doors on preflight. Thanks for the reason - they couldn't tell me why we weren't doing it!

Air in the system sounds logical - we're going to put it on the jacks today and see if we can get the problem to duplicate.


Bp244
 
SurferLucas said:
We had to fly 150 into ATL, but if you want to keep the speed up...works out nicely. I hardly ever landed flaps 40, mainly flaps 25.
Click to expand...

I'll defintely use the settings you referenced - have to fly into Nashville quite a bit as well as PDK and FTY etc. That was the beauty of the Baron, you can fly at 150KIAS with approach flaps and the gear hanging out if you want, so fast approaches = no problem (unless you had a Platypus in front!)

The Chieftain I'm flying is an older one so the Gear has to come down at 120....

Bp244
 
For the gear, I think it's most likely the up lock microswitches. Sometimes they get dirty.

At our company we've pumped the doors down on every plane pretty much every day and I've never heard the air-in-the-lines thing, weird.

Oh, one other random thing I found a long time ago - if you can't get the mains to come down and you know the pumps are working, turn off the master, lower the gear, then turn it back on.
 
Be sure to bring the power up slowly at first to allow both turbo chargers to spool up and then push it up to takeoff power.
 
Baronpilot244 said:
Thanks, everyone this is great information and funny enough today's problem is the landing gear.

The handle won't come back to neutral when pulling the gear up and the inboard gear doors stay open giving us a gear unsafe light in the cockpit. We checked the reservoir on landing and it is full. The mechanic suspects the "up" switches are the problem.

Definitely likes a smooth and steady application of the throttles on takeoff as well as plenty of power on final with full flaps. I'm flying per the POH at 110mph on final slowing to about 95 over the fence - seems to work well.
Evidently the VG kit makes things a good bit more stable.

It is a fun airplane to fly and I would agree its more forgiving and easier to land than the Baron.

Anyone know what the fix is for this gear problem - the mechanic didn't seem to convinced he knew what was wrong.......

Bp244
Click to expand...

That exact problem happened to me the other day. The 'up' switches were bad, mx replaced them now it works great.
 
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