Piper Navajo flying tips?

Romulus

Romulus

Well-Known Member
So I have an interview in a week. Pat of this interview is going to be jumping in a PA-31-350 to go for a quick flight. I have 14 hours of multi time and they know this. While they won't expect me to be an expert, I would like to make a good impression. This is a FUN job that would also involve flying some turbine equipment. So what does the Jet Careers Brain Trust have to say about the ho?
 
Congrats! All in all, the Navajo isn't too tricky. Biggest things you will probably notice...

1. Airplane is a PITA to taxi at first. Just take it slow and don't be afraid to use the brakes to help out.
2. Controls will feel VERY heavy compared to light twins
3. When you first get in the airplane, look out the front to see how high off the ground you're sitting. It sits a lot higher up than you'll be used to which obviously makes the flare a little more difficult.
4. The nose will really want to come down after the mains touch down. Be ready for this with a little back pressure.

Have fun, and good luck!
 
Building on Deadringer's #4 with the heavy nose... The same is true for takeoff. That heavy nose will want to stay on the ground even when the airplane is ready for rotation. Apply a little extra back pressure on the rotation to avoid porpusing. She flies heavy so treat her with a heavy hand to compensate. It's been a while but figure 80knots rotate, climb out about 120knots and cruise 155-ish. The nice thing about a bigger twin, which you may not be used to, is there are actually different power settings between climb and cruise. Climb out at about 36 inches MP then you'll level off but keep the power in to get the extra 30 knots or so for cruise speed. After you're at cruise bring power back to 30"-32" and you'll be good. For leaning procedures you'll be at just about full mixtures on climb out (but you can lean it just keep EGTs under 1450). In cruise you can lean each side to about 18-22gph as long as you keep it under 1450 EGT (this will be your limiting factor for all leaning procedures). Have fun with her!
 
Stage cooling the engines are important. I used 3 inches of manifold a minute or so. This requires adequate decent and approach planning.
 
Romulus said:
So I have an interview in a week. Pat of this interview is going to be jumping in a PA-31-350 to go for a quick flight. I have 14 hours of multi time and they know this. While they won't expect me to be an expert, I would like to make a good impression. This is a FUN job that would also involve flying some turbine equipment. So what does the Jet Careers Brain Trust have to say about the ho?
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Burnt out on Bethel?
 
Like was said earlier, the ho will be heavier than you're probably used to, so use trim aggressively. On takeoff, you will have to rotate. It doesn't just fly off like a cessna. Plan on about 5-7 degrees nose-up. If you are loaded with an aft CG, the aiplane becomes extemely pitch sensitive.

Landing is very easy, in my opinion. It's not as much of a flare as you may be used to. As you get close to the runway, just hold a level attitude and ease the power off. It will touch down on the mains every time.

Have fun and good luck!
 
Like other have said..it flies heavy, and taxi slow using differential power if needed. Fly it onto the runway, and bring power back slowly, so as to be at idle just seconds before touchdown. Have fun!
 
Thanks for the input guys. I knew this crowd would have plenty to offer.

This gig is summer only. While I'm not totally burned out now, Im getting a little crispy out here on the delta. The thought of a fun summer job sounds too good to pass up. And yeah, the exodus is happening here on the red team so I should be able to get hired back on.
 
Whatever you do, don't try to land it nose high like a single engine Cessna or something. Just use the trim to keep a slight nose high attitude... walk the power out and nail your speeds. It's important to get the power out when you flare... use the trim make it easy as you flare (slightly). It's extremely easy to land...just fly it on to the runway. Other than that, it flies like a truck.
 
Really an easy airplane to fly. make sure you go easy on the engines when you bring the power out as those TIO-540's are susceptible to shock cooling (but I am sure the guy doing your checkout will brief you on this). Other than that, use the pitch trim as they are quit nose heavy especially when theres nothing in the back.
 
The Navajo can be hard to slow down, don't be afraid to use 15 degrees of flaps below 150 KIAS if you need to. As long as you planned your cooling properly you wont have speed issues, but it can be easy to get behind.

For your interview I would assume the guy would talk you through this stuff considering your experience in type.

Oh and if this is a cargo -350 it will be a tad nose heavy and may require ballast when empty.
 
Maurus said:
The Navajo can be hard to slow down, don't be afraid to use 15 degrees of flaps below 150 KIAS if you need to. As long as you planned your cooling properly you wont have speed issues, but it can be easy to get behind.
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IIRC the 350s that have the calco flap system let you have flaps 15 and maybe even flaps 30 at 162 knots. That could be gear speed I'm thinking of though. I have the mx manual on here, but I can't find flap limit speeds in there to double check... Go figure.
 
Roger said:
IIRC the 350s that have the calco flap system let you have flaps 15 and maybe even flaps 30 at 162 knots. That could be gear speed I'm thinking of though. I have the mx manual on here, but I can't find flap limit speeds in there to double check... Go figure.
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It depends on the model. The 15 degrees of flaps at 150 knots is what Amflight used if you found that you were fast because it was the lowest number across the fleet that they have. Same thing with the gear speed, it's much higher on other models, but the lowest number Amflight had was 130 knots, so they used 130 knots across the fleet in order to make sure people didn't pop the gear/flaps too early.
 
A trick I learned for stage cooling from my IOE instructor was to use the GPS ETE. Start at 10 minutes out your mp should be 30. At 8 it should be 28, etc. So one inch a minute until your at your app power setting.
 
jhugz said:
A trick I learned for stage cooling from my IOE instructor was to use the GPS ETE. Start at 10 minutes out your mp should be 30. At 8 it should be 28, etc. So one inch a minute until your at your app power setting.
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Good rule of thumb. Keep in mind as you slow, your ete will increase.
 
jtrain609 said:
It depends on the model. The 15 degrees of flaps at 150 knots is what Amflight used if you found that you were fast because it was the lowest number across the fleet that they have. Same thing with the gear speed, it's much higher on other models, but the lowest number Amflight had was 130 knots, so they used 130 knots across the fleet in order to make sure people didn't pop the gear/flaps too early.
Click to expand...
Makes sense. I was thinking that all the 350s had the higher speeds, but ours is a very late model so I'm not sure.
 
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