NAVAJO
Everybody knows what a Navajo is, don’t they? A twin-engine Turbo-charged Lycoming powered 6 – 11 seat workhorse. Well, believe it or not, Piper came out with a non-turbocharged Navajo in June 1967. But yes, all the other Navajo’s were turbocharged from the 310 HP 6 – 8 seat certified in Feb 1966, to the 8 – 11 seat 350HP Chieftain certified in 1972 to the 325 HP CR certified in May 1974. The P Navajo, a 425 HP geared engine pressurized aircraft was certified to a ceiling of 29,000’ in Nov 1969. The Mojave - certified in 1983 was essentially a 350 HP pressurized Navajo. Unfortunately the Mojave came out about the time that the heyday of aviation was winding down and only about 35 are still flying.
AFTER MARKET
As with most aircraft there are after-market changes available to some of these aircraft. The 325 CR can take 2 non-counter-rotating 350 engines, VGs are available as well as intercoolers. One company puts four bladed Q tip props and winglets on the Navajo. I guess the Q tip props are quieter but except for possible increased stability the winglets don’t do much for performance except above 10,000’. Even wing locker fuel tanks may be available.
QUIRKS
It is hard to come up with any quirks on this airplane. The Chieftain seems to be a little better balanced i.e. the control yoke input to the elevators doesn’t produce the little bit of jerky motion that occurs on the shorter body Navajos. The models that had fuel quantity gauges that the aft passengers could read made the passengers nervous sometimes. Here you’ve only been flying for an hour and a half and the gauges are down to ¼ each and you still have an hour to go. The passengers didn’t know that the gauges only read the selected tank fuel but were relieved when the inboard tanks were again selected and the gauges read over ½ full yet. There is a hood that can be put over these gauges so only the pilots can read them. Oh yes, the flaps. If you ever experience a complete split flap situation, where one flap remains fully retracted while the other extends fully, you would be unable to control the airplane. There is a solution that is meant to prevent this situation from occurring. We will discuss this during class time.
MY OPINION
If I still had several children living at home I’d love to have a Chieftain to transport them around to wherever. What a great way to see the United States and get a geography lesson of the 49 states. The roominess, the docile handling qualities, the ability to have someone in the back bring up a cup of coffee, the ability to have an enclosed lavatory, all these things make the airplane great. The wing lockers can hold up to 150 lbs each and quite long objects at that so that snow skies don’t need to be brought inside. An aft baggage compartment allows passengers the ability to access something from their carry on luggage. With the engines sitting so far forward on the wings, the airplane is fairly quiet. The turbo-charged, non-pressurized Navajos handle fairly well in an engine-out scenario. Unfortunately the aircraft is out of production and probably will never be put back into production. Quest’s Kodiak, the single-engine Pratt & Whitney powered 10 seat power house will probably take the Non-pressurized Navajo’s place.
OBSERVATION – The Navajo is no longer in production.