March 12, 20224 yr Piper Company, in the 1960s, buoyed and boldened by the resounding success of its (many) PA-20 series a/c, embarked next on the ambitious PA-31 series of popular twins that include 4 (major) variants as follows (At the request of company founder William T. Piper, Piper began development of a six- to eight-seat twin-engined corporate and commuter transport aircraft under the project name Inca...Mr. Piper's answer to the ubiquitous Cessna 400 series twins...): PA-31 Navajo (1967) PA-31 Chieftain (1973) PA-31T Cheyenne (1974) [Note the "T" for "Turbo", and, also, to be distinguished, here, from the PA-42 Cheyenne which is a later and larger development of the PA-31T Cheyenne.] PA-31 Mojave (1983) Out of these 4 PA-31s, the Cheyenne is the only Turboprop, powered by the legendary P & W Canada PT6A engines (the same P & W powerplants that powered other (similar) remarkable twins such as DHC-6 Twin Otter, Beech 99A, and Embraer 110 etc.). The other 3 Piper twins, above, are powered by the equally famous Lycoming (Piston) Engines. It's also worth noting, here, that many of Cessna's 400 series twin-pistons (e.g., C404, C411, C414, C421) were all powered by Lycoming's main competitor, the Continental Engines. If you wish, please look back at my earlier post on the Cessna C404 Titan. The Chieftain and Cheyenne are the subject of this post, both a/c, by lineage, developed from the parent PA-31 Navajo. The Piper PA-31 Cheyenne is a turboprop development of the earlier PA-31 Navajo. The PA-31 Chieftain (also called "Navajo Chieftain" - see close-up tail marking in my images below), is (so to speak) the largest and most successful of the Navajo piston-twins, built as a stretched version of the Navajo but with more powerful engines. The engine designation is "TIO-540", where the "T" stands for "Turbocharged", being one of the most powerful and complex piston engines ever fitted to a light aircraft, practically, just a step away from an actual "Turboprop"...! Piper PA31 Chieftain had its first flight in 1964. Piper PA31T Cheyenne first flew 5 years later in 1969. I read, "The Piper PA31 Navajo Chieftain has wide windows so passengers can enjoy the sceneries which the plane will be flying over. Whether you’re en route to a meeting or a vacation, you can get mesmerized by mountains, landscapes and bodies of water which you’ll fly by..."... Well...that was surely true for me, here...see my images below... "The Piper PA31 Navajo Chieftain’s large luggage capacity is sufficient for you to bring your presentation materials with you for a meeting. And if you’re traveling for leisure, the same compartment can also store all the essentials you’ll need during the getaway..."...see the first shot, below... "With a practical and spacious cabin...this 7-seat aircraft has comfy seats (see images) and the agility to reach even smaller airports. It has Short Take Off and Landing (STOL) capacities, so you can fly to or from shorter strips."...which is what I've done here... The below images are mostly of the Piper Chieftain but a couple of (interjected) shots of the Cheyenne, too, are shown (the 2nd and 3rd shots, below, (body and avionics), are those for a PA31T Cheyenne IA - its turboprop engine characterized by the unmistakable backward pointing metallic exhaust vent...). Now, compare a few statistics between the two types: Normal Cruise (175 kts / 260 kts) Rate of Climb (1270 fpm / 2710 fpm) Service Ceiling (24,000 ft / 29,000 ft) Max Passengers (9 / 5) Cost per Hour ($ 627 / $ 1539) Though, trailing in Performance (the first 3 metrics), the Chieftain convincingly outperforms the Cheyenne in the (crucial) categories of Capacity and Operating Cost (the last 2 metrics). When production was suspended in 1984, some ~1,900 PA-31 Navajo Chieftains (and ~3,900 Navajos) had been built, in comparison, to a total of 823 PA-31T Cheyennes built. Hope you enjoy this collection of images, below, of this classic (Piper) piston-twin, touring the skies in the vicinity of ENSG (Sogndal Airport, Haukåsen) tucked away in (scenic) southwestern Norway, 75 miles NW of Oslo, in the land of midnight Sun. And as it was for my C404 Titan post, the livery, here, is another nice repaint, that I fortuitously came across, today, in the library, by Matt Levi, of an Australian Reg. (VH-NFI) PA-31 Chieftain. Thanks for viewing...!! [Alabeo (PA-31 Navajo Chieftain), Orbx (Norway)] Edited March 12, 20224 yr by P_7878
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