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 Post subject: Re: Navajo flying...
PostPosted: 27 Feb 2017, 20:54 
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Joined: 08/15/11
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Location: Mandan, ND
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Username Protected wrote:
Chris,

I'm envious of your videos.

I have the Garmin VIRB and the audio cable thingy but IT WONT RECORD COCKPIT AUDIO :pullhair:

I had a passenger figure it out once, but i've never been able to get the stupid thing to record cockpit audio...I know its operator error but still, why the hell isnt that a default option when the flipping cable is plugged in?

Could you list out the steps you take & which buttons to push to get the VIRB to record cockpit audio.

Thanks again.


Hi Zeke! I use the Virb app on my Android to control the phone. All I did was get the Garmin headset cable and go in and uncheck the box for "internal microphone". When looking at the settings on the Virb itself, Microphone is disabled. Then connect the headset cord and it should work.


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 Post subject: Re: Navajo flying...
PostPosted: 14 Mar 2017, 12:59 
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New vid, dunno if this is at all interesting. There was a funny exchange I caught MSP Center side of at 4:55. Key Lime 563 (LYM563) landed at Dickinson and didnt cancel. Center even has a RCO on field. Ughhhh.... I thought that was universally known? Especially with the cargo guys? They chided him when he was calling Center back on the ground in Dickinson looking for clearance to Vernal UT.

Landing was darn near a greaser, but that little suction cup mount sure vibrates! May have to investigate a different mount.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/CpqzOQoIBQ4[/youtube]


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 Post subject: Re: Navajo flying...
PostPosted: 14 Mar 2017, 21:37 
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Location: Good Hope, GA
Aircraft: C421, BE300, EMB500
I like it! Good stuff and thanks for sharing! I think you are being a little too picky on the landing. The cam barely moved! Good job!
I got to hear an exchange one day where a guy called for flight following and when he entered the squawk code and hit ident, he was radar contact dead center of a restricted area in the middle of a live fire exercise! Ooops!!!!! :bugeye:

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 Post subject: Re: Navajo flying...
PostPosted: 23 Mar 2017, 23:11 
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ILS31 at home base today. I asked for the visual and probably could have made it work, but we had a heck of a tailwind on the base leg, so it made up for going way out and around. Tried to speed up the video after the GS intercept and until just before landing, but it didn't work. Will try to edit again tomorrow.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/qDPLm-TapNI[/youtube]


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 Post subject: Re: Navajo flying...
PostPosted: 25 Mar 2017, 20:05 
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Do you fly for the cardio-pulmonary group ?


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 Post subject: Re: Navajo flying...
PostPosted: 25 Mar 2017, 20:16 
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Good stuff Chris. Buy the Garmin heart rate monitor and pair it to your camera. Wear it during hard IFR flights. You can display it on the video. Yields some interesting results.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/4FSeBaJQb_c[/youtube]

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 Post subject: Re: Navajo flying...
PostPosted: 25 Mar 2017, 20:20 
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Good stuff Chris. Buy the Garmin heart rate monitor and pair it to your camera. Wear it during hard IFR flights. You can display it on the video. Yields some interesting results.



That is a really good idea... John Lohmar, an airline guy and safety expert made a presentation at the Nat'l Warbird Operators Conf. that quoted data saying that max pilot performance is between 115 and 145 bpm. At ~175 bpm, we move from the crew list to the passenger manifest.....

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 Post subject: Re: Navajo flying...
PostPosted: 25 Mar 2017, 20:22 
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Username Protected wrote:
Good stuff Chris. Buy the Garmin heart rate monitor and pair it to your camera. Wear it during hard IFR flights. You can display it on the video. Yields some interesting results.



That is a really good idea... John Lohmar, an airline guy and safety expert made a presentation at the Nat'l Warbird Operators Conf. that quoted data saying that max pilot performance is between 115 and 145 bpm. At ~175 bpm, we move from the crew list to the passenger manifest.....


Link to present?
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 Post subject: Re: Navajo flying...
PostPosted: 25 Mar 2017, 20:35 
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http://classicjets.org/content.php?page ... p_Ten_Tips

There it is. #6

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 Post subject: Re: Navajo flying...
PostPosted: 25 Mar 2017, 23:11 
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Username Protected wrote:
http://classicjets.org/content.php?page=Safety_Brief_-_Lohmars_Top_Ten_Tips

There it is. #6


Interesting link, thanks Mark!

I am studying for the FOI (Fundamentals of Instruction) knowledge test, which I am taking this Thursday (3/30). At first I thought the material was a bit dry, but then you can start to relate these concepts to good (and bad) instruction over the years. At any rate, many of the tips in that link relate to some of the material I am studying.

Also good thought on the HR monitor. Thought about getting one for bike rides, and could use it here also!


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 Post subject: Re: Navajo flying...
PostPosted: 26 Mar 2017, 08:41 
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I am studying for the FOI (Fundamentals of Instruction) knowledge test, which I am taking this Thursday (3/30). At first I thought the material was a bit dry, but then you can start to relate these concepts to good (and bad) instruction over the years. At any rate, many of the tips in that link relate to some of the material I am studying.

Also good thought on the HR monitor. Thought about getting one for bike rides, and could use it here also!


I got out of college (agriculture) without having to take Psych 101, and had I been forced to take it, I would probably not have paid attention anyway... After all, at 20 I wasn't very interested in the "soft sciences."

In my late 30's when I got my CFI I was running a small company, and trying to manage and motivate employees, and the FOI was a great eye-opener for me. Those principles apply to all aspects of your life...

My favorite is the definition of Learning... A change of experience as a result of experience....

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Doug Rozendaal
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Be Nice, Kind, I don't care, be something, just don't be a jerk ;-)


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 Post subject: Re: Definition of learning
PostPosted: 08 Apr 2017, 01:37 
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Not quite. It's a change in behaviour as a result of experience.


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 Post subject: Re: Navajo flying...
PostPosted: 08 Apr 2017, 02:19 
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Location: N AZ
Aircraft: Mooney D 1964
Getting back to the Navajo in which I have 1800+ hrs, I found them (310, 325, 350) to be stable and predictable. We had full deice on all of them and it would carry a good load but it lost 20-25 kts with a lot of ice. The boots work great. Your speeds and burns are right as I remember them (lots of years ago). Make sure the Alt Air system works if you plan on ice. Had to use it a couple of times when the air filters got plugged with ice and the manifold pressure dropped. Just be aware that there is no filtering with the alt air open.

The engine package, firewall forward, is way better than a 421 ( I got @700 hrs in those). I went 1800 hrs and only changed 3 cylinders out of 12 in that time. Use mouse milk on the waste gate every chance you get. It does wonders for smooth operation. Did crack one turbo transition "Y" and had a crack up inside the "snail" large end of the turbo once.

Make sure the seals on all the air inlet to the engine is sealed real well to keep out dirt and sand. You will/may get a surging on takeoff (BIG surging) and find that you have a clogged injector from dirt coming in on the air balance line. I got a one shot STC 35 years ago to put regular vacuum system air filters in line on each side of the engine to filter the air going to the balance lines into the injectors. Never had a clogged injector after that.

The day before PCA came down to 18,000 ft. I went up to 23, 995 ft just to say I went there, in a 310 Navajo.

Make sure you have nylon washers under the screw heads of each screw holding your spinners on. You will crack spinners if you don't. Tighten the screws down evenly and smoothly all the way around. We went through 4 before we got the idea of nylon washers. They stopped all the cracking.

I always did my own passenger door closing. I never let a passenger do it. A few have come open in flight. Nose baggage door the same way.

Cabin heater worked fine as long as it was maintained properly. The 310 actually had a Brittain huff & puff autopilot that worked pretty good back then.

Good airplanes if you can afford to feed them :-)


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 Post subject: Re: Navajo flying...
PostPosted: 08 Apr 2017, 05:01 
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Great stuff there, Cliff! Thanks for sharing. Learned some very useful tips. Thank You! :thumbup: ~~ Mark


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 Post subject: Re: Navajo flying...
PostPosted: 08 Apr 2017, 17:06 
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Aircraft: C150,BE55,C414,CRJ
I have about 2500hrs in PA31s, including -310, -350, -425 (the P-Navajo), and Panther versions of the -310, -325 & 350. A couple of hours in a Cheyenne 1A too. Some with & some without BLRs VG STC to increase MTOW (in a rare opportunity for me, I got to regularly fly a -350 pre- & post-VG installation. Lost several knots in cruise, gained a couple of hundred pounds useful load)

Some bits & pieces I find with them:

Navajo series: wing lockers are worth their weight & performance penalty for the gain in baggage volume. Especially if you need to carry long things such as fishing poles, surfboards, golf club bags etc but also a place to stuff 150lb of smaller bags. Don't bother trying to use Piper's locker straps to pull the baggage from the front of the locker. Buy a boat hook, or make one really cheaply with an old broom handle + hardware hook from Homedepot.

The cockpit of the Navajo lacks leg room. The spar carry through structure prevents the cockpit seats from going back far enough. Not an issue in the Chieftain because the cockpit is moved further forward of the spar carry through. Plenty of leg room in them.

I very much like the Lyc 540. So easy to start, even when hot. Not quite as stressed as the Cont 520 seems to be doing an equivalent job. I think the Cont 550 is a more equal engine.

Factory aircon is great, at the expense of taking a ~2' chunk out of the RH wing locker space. Pretty much an outlet at every seat position. Don't be too surprised if in heavy rain with a high electrical load the RH alternator light flickers on. The aircon compressor fitment moves the RH alternator to a weather exposed position at the front of the cowl. Never have worked out whether it's the belt slipping when drenched, or water getting into the alternator. Sometimes getting the belt tensioned works, other times not.

Newer PA31s have a much better panel layout. Especially with the warning lights arrangement. Newer ones ~1978+ have a single panel in the coaming to house all the warning lights. Older ones are rather scatter gunned, with the nose baggage & cabin door lights on the far right of the overhead panel, fuel pressure on the windscreen's centre column, and the alternator fail on the lower left sidewall under the CB panel, near your left calf. Cockpit lighting controls are also better.

Newer PA31s also have a preselect flap switch so you don't have to hold the switch until the flaps reach your desired position. Those newer types also have flap asymmetry protection which kills flap movement if there's a flap split. The types without flap asymmetry protection have an AD that limits max flap to 25deg.

Older PA31s have a low gear extension speed (only 130kts-ish) which makes them a pain to descend & slow down. Newer ones are up in the 150s so much better for arranging your arrival.

Be careful of hot-bus lighting. The nose locker, the cockpit overhead, cabin entry & (depending on interior cabinetry) the aft amenities cabinet are all permanently live. Some PA31s have an additional manual switch in the nose locker to disable the light there, otherwise it's on whenever the nose door is open.

Mods/STCs
==========
Colemill's Panther mod: Overall, I like that it removes the CR (for CR types) so all engine parts become interchangeable, eliminating bespoke anti-clockwise specific parts, and that it replaces the dual drive mags for two separately driven ones. Definitely worth doing on the Navajo, not so sure about benefits for the Chieftain. Colemill also replace the prop sync with a better unit. I think there's a downside though. I've seen frequent cracks on the 4 blade prop hub, always at the corner screw holes. I think it's a design flaw, with insufficient metal. There's an SB or STC to add washers to attempt to correct this but I've still seen cracks develop.

On the Navajo the increased HP is great, especially for the 1-inop case. I had an inflight shutdown in a Panther -325 + VGs with less than an hour fuel burn from MTOW. The plane comfortably cruised home at 6000' / Vyse+10 to 15 / 75% power / 1 cowl open. The increased cruise in normal ops is good, although I nearly always run this plane LOP at 60-65% which gives <28gph in the cruise.

On the -350, I'm not so convinced of the benefit. No change in HP, and too hard to tell if the 4 blade props make much of a difference. I'd have to compare the same airframe pre- & post-modification to tell. Maybe a slight change in handling from the winglets but I would find it hard to justify the $$$.

----------
BLR's VG kit to increase MTOW. Well worth it. It adds between 200 & 340lb to the MTOW. Turns a so-so payload vs range aircraft into one that is quite useable.

Interestingly, the BLR VG kit specifies a lower climb MP (35") for a Panther than Colemill specify for the 'stock' Panther (38") even though the VG STC doesn't modify the engines in any way. I was curious so I phoned BLR and spoke with a gentleman there who, in turn, contacted the engineer who was responsible for the change. I was told that new noise limit rules took effect between Colemill's Panther STC, and their VG STC for the Panther. End result a slightly lower climb MP to meet noise limits.

----------
There is also an aftermarket aircon available that replaces the partition behind the pilot with an aircon outlet + an electrical driven compressor in the tail. This has limited outlets (1 x head high blowing into the cabin, a similar one blowing onto the pilot's head, and one onto the co-pilot. The aftermarket one's advantage is that you can use a GPU to run the aircon on the ground while waiting for pax.
----------
Nosegear scissor link quick disconnect. Costs about $1100 and is cheap insurance if your PA31 gets towed a lot eg in & out of a hangar. I've seen many PA31s with a cracked trunnion thanks to exceeding the tow turn limit. The quick disconnect allows the nose wheel to turn 360 deg without affecting the trunnion.
----------

There is a belly gear door removal STC that elimates servicing & rigging issues with the belly gear doors. Never flown a PA31 with the mod, but have read of one operator's satisfaction with it.
---------

Crew door. Very useful if you have both aft row seats occupied. It's bloody awkward to squeeze half into the aisle, and half between the LH seat pax and the next row so you can reach to close the cabin door. The catch with the crew door is that it adds a bit of weight, and is prone to leak if the seal isn't kept in good condition. If it leaks then water will flown down into the CB panel.

-------------
Engine data monitor

As far as I'm concerned these should be standard on every piston aircraft. Or, at least, high performance types. Even though a Panther -325 I manage has LOP instructions in the factory POH using the original single point EGT, I'm not prepared to run LOP without being able to determine all CHTs, EGTs & %#$@.

===============
Avionics etc:
----------

If your Navajo has a KFC200 AP and is a 1980 or newer model you have a potentially expensive item. The 1980+ model requires an accelerometer be included in the autopilot power circuit. It is there to trip off the AP if it senses too great a +ve or +ve 'g'. Honeywell no longer make this unit, nor is there an aftermarket replacement (that we've been able to find). We sent a couple to Honeywell - who would only test, and not repair them. They offered to build one to order - for only $20,000! You're stuck with trying to find a serviceable used part somewhere which isn't very common. For a few AMUs more you could stick an Stec 55 in (not that I like that AP but it's about the cheapest one out there), only it would also require panel surgery because it doesn't fit in the original pedestal AP position and requires an external switch to retain FD functionality.

To add to the frustration, a 1979 Navajo with the same KFC200 *didn't* require the accelerometer. We even looked at the possibility of recertifying the AP in the 1980 Navajo based on the older one's fit. No way, no how was the response.

==========

Flying it:

Controls are heavy, including taxiing. Think 'pickup truck without power steering', and not 'sports car'. Many people I've seen who are new to it tend to hold onto the column as if it's hammer with resultant poor flight path accuracy, because of the heavy-ish controls. The key is to trim. It's very stable and easy to fly an approach. Get it configured & trimmed correctly and you don't have to do much work to stay on the GS. In the Panther -325 I arrive at the GS intercept trimmed with 15deg flap and 25"/2300rpm. Just below the GS I extend gear & 25deg flap and....that's it! It very nearly follows the GS on its own.

For the arrival I descend at cruise power. If LOP I don't touch the mixture until pre-landing checks unless it needs slight enriching for smoothness. If ROP then I enrichen on the way down to maintain cruise EGT. I start reducing power 'x' minutes prior to FAF/turning base/equivalent position. That 'x' is easy to work out:

Set MP to equal expected approach MP + minutes to go to FAF eg expect 25" approach MP & cruise at 33"MP. Maintain 33" during the descent. At 7 mins ETI to FAF set 32"MP, at 6 mins set 31" and so on. By the time you get within a few inches MP of approach power speed will be comfortably under flap limit speed and you can extend 15 deg flap. For me that's usually after the last power reduction (to set 25"MP) but can be earlier if needed.

No need to be pedantic about the 1" thing. Approximately is fine. If you're busy then make the power reduction 2" or so. Eventually the minutes to go will catch up to the lower MP.

By the time I get it trimmed & go full rich/pumps on/main tanks I'm at the FAF and ready to drop gear then 25 flap - all comfortably under gear limit speed. It makes it really easy to never be hot/high struggling to get the flap & gear out. I never have to think about where in the arrival I am for power setting, just look at minutes to go. This also works in the low gear speed models (23" FAF used to work well in a '74 Chieftain with a 130 kt gear limit that I used to fly)

You will have to positively rotate for take-off, or the plane will try to complete the journey by road.

Fuel system management is easy: Inboard/mains for take-off & landing. Outboard/auxs in the cruise, although I tend to select them once in the cruise climb on departure. If you're doing a lot of short hops it's easy to run short in the mains. X-feed is for emergency use only.

It's a pressure x-feed design so selecting/deselecting x-feed is always the same process: Select the new source, switch on the pump for that source, switch on(or off) x-feed, switch off the old source, switch off the old source pump.


Last edited on 09 Apr 2017, 14:26, edited 6 times in total.

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