Each of our lives is like a river shaped by the events we encounter and the decisions we make. The events of our childhood have a profound effect on what eventually become our hopes and dreams. The first of the major events that shaped my hopes and dreams occurred in 1962 when my father purchased a brand-new Piper Comanche. Fly-in breakfasts, vacations and trips to relatives and friends in “Eight-Eight-Pop” became a way of life for Dad and his three boys. By the time I was eight, I didn’t want to do anything but fly. I read flying books and magazines, built models, helped a neighbor build a Pietenpol homebuilt, spent as much time at the airport as I could and of course, flew in Eight-Eight-Pop with Dad.

Another major life-changing event happened in 1972. Dad and Mom decided I should attend the Flying Y aviation camp at the then home of Piper Aircraft Company, Lock Haven, PA. This camp was intended to introduce young people to the world of aviation. The third or fourth day we were at camp, we received a tour of the Piper factory. That’s when it (life-changing event number two) happened–I watched Navajos being built on the assembly line. I was now the highly impressionable age of 13, and this was undoubtedly the coolest thing I had ever seen in my young life. I’d seen Navajos before at the airport, but these airplanes weren’t just sitting on the ramp, they were being created right in front of my eyes. I thought, some day if I could have one of those airplanes, what more could I want. …

Anyone alive in 1972 and living in the Northeast knows what happened next. Hurricane Agnus hit Lock Haven two days later and flooded the Piper factory. Regular camp activities came to a halt, and we spent the next week cleaning up the YMCA and the city of Lock Haven. It was decided that camp would be extended by one week. Because of the flood, we hadn’t finished ground school or gotten all our flying time in. I came out of the summer of 1972 with my certificate of completion for private pilot ground school and 10 hours of dual instruction.

In 1974 I got a job at the local FBO. There were two Navajos based there, and I washed both of them every weekend. After I washed them, I would sit in the cockpit and read the flight manuals until I knew how to operate every switch, button and lever. I knew all the airspeeds, all the power settings and just about everything else there was to know about a Navajo without ever having flown one.

Two years later I turned 17 and got my private ticket in old Eight-Eight-Pop. I kept my job at the FBO and used the money I made to get my instrument and commercial tickets before I graduated from high school. The next year I went off to college and after a few sidesteps, my career took priority over flying. I worked 12 to 14 hours a day and just didn’t have time to fly, especially since I had moved away from my home town and Eight-Eight-Pop was no longer available. In 1989 I quit my job, moved back to my hometown and got married. Flying became my primary weekend recreation. Dad not only still had the Comanche but had constructed a few homebuilts while I was away, so I had several airplanes to fly.

In 1998 a friend called me and asked if I would be willing to fly to Buffalo and pick up his pastor who had somehow become stuck there without a ride home. That ride back from Buffalo became another one of “those” events. The pastor asked me if I would be willing to fly some supplies to missionaries in the Caribbean and South America. I told him that the Comanche wasn’t the best airplane for a job like that. His reply was, “Let’s get one that is.”

To make a long story short, a couple of months later we formed a non-profit company and bought a 1974 Aztec. The flights to South America were not coming about as planned though, so I started doing some Angel Flights in order to utilize the aircraft. I flew three Angel Flights a week for three years. As much as I liked that Aztec, there was one big problem with it–no back door. I had to turn a lot of people away because they were unable to crawl up over the wing to board. I knew what I needed–a Navajo. Yep, it was time.

The Search Ensues

I started searching for the right Navajo. I really didn’t have much money, so I was going to have to find a “fixer-upper.” Fortunately, by this time I had an A&P ticket, so I could do all the work. In January 2002, I found a 1976 C model with only 200-hour engines. It cost about what I could get for the Aztec. It was rough, to say the least. The paint was literally falling off, the props were the old-style hubs and in need of replacement, the interior was shot and the avionics were factory-original 1976 Silver Crown. It was under about three feet of snow and obviously hadn’t been flown in a while.

I found the broker who listed the thing and asked him if I could test fly it to see what worked and what didn’t. He said he would even pay for the fuel because he would like to know that, too. I cleaned the snow off of it, charged the battery and started my pre-buy inspection right there on the ramp. A few hours later, I was ready for the test flight. During the flight, the left engine misfired above 33 inches and the right main and nose gear wouldn’t lock up. I thought, Well, what did I expect for a hundred thousand. It looked to me like most of my investment would be in labor, except for the props, which I could handle, so I decided to go for it.

A Bit of History

Navajo production began in 1967 in Lock Haven and ended in 1984 in Lakeland. There were four test Navajos built prior to 1967, and the first production Navajo rolled out in 1966 and was sold as a 1967 model year. The first year there were turbocharged and non-turbocharged versions.

The turbocharged version became known as the “310” because of its designation PA-31-310. The 310 Navajo was powered by a pair of 310-hp Lycoming TIO-540-A1A engines. In 1971 turbocharging improvements and a three-bladed prop flange changed the engine model to TIO-540-A2C, and Piper dubbed the improved aircraft the “Navajo B.” In 1975 the B model became the C model. The most obvious change was the relocation of the engine gauges from the bottom of the instrument panel to the top right above the radio stack. Also, in 1975 a counter-rotating version of the Navajo was introduced that featured TIO/LTIO-540-F2BD engines rated at 325 hp. The most obvious difference, besides the right engine turning the wrong direction, was the addition of wing lockers. The wing lockers are great for getting some of the luggage out of the cabin, especially if the two rear seats are installed.

I have it from a good friend who worked in Piper’s experimental department at the time that the success of the Navajo prompted the sales department at Piper to ask for a larger version. However, the chief engineer only wanted to fit the existing airframe with larger engines and stretch the nose a little. Somehow the sales department managed to have the engineer sent on a field trip to Australia for three weeks. A Navajo fuselage was pulled off the assembly line and moved to the experimental shop. The workers there were told they had three weeks to stretch the fuselage two feet. The result was the PA-31-350 Chieftain.

The Chieftain was introduced in 1975. It has a cabin that is 24 inches longer than that of a standard Navajo and is powered by two Lycoming TIO/LTIO-540-J2BD engines. There were 1,827 Chieftains built between 1973 and 1984, making it the most-produced model.

A pressurized version of the Navajo was introduced in 1970. Initial recommended TBO of the 425-hp engine was only 800 hours, and since then it has been upgraded to 1,200 hours. The overhauls are very expensive, and the operational cost of a Cheyenne is less, but many have a low initial cost, so they are still practical. I highly recommend that anyone purchasing a P Navajo check that it is optional nacelle tank-equipped. Otherwise, the endurance will be limited to a little more than three hours because the TIGO-541-E1A engines drink down 25 gph each. Production of the P Navajo ended in 1977; a total of 259 were built.

I provide ferry services for a broker and have probably flown 30 different Navajos, including a Chieftain that sold for $600,000. By far the coolest one that I have flown is the Mojave. In 1983 to 1984, 50 Mojaves were manufactured in Lock Haven, PA. It’s basically a Cheyenne I with a variant of the Chieftain engine installed. The L/TIO-540-V2AD engines are also counter-rotating, rated at 350-hp at 2,575 rpm and have a recommended TBO of 2,000 hours. The Mojave has a lot of standard features, including a dual-bus electrical system and a Lycoming engine supposedly designed specifically for high-altitude operation. The engine has an intercooler, pressurized magnetos from the factory and thicker fuselage skins.

All the performance numbers of the non-pressurized Navajos are within a few percent. The book cruise speeds are based on the max operating altitude of 24,000 feet, and it supposedly has 215-knot cruise at 75 percent. I have never flown one above 18,000 feet and usually fly mine at 10 to 15 thousand, except for short hops. In the mid-teens, 195 knots at 75 percent is not an unrealistic expectation. I usually operate at 65 percent rated power and get about 180 to 185 knots and burn 36 gph. Chieftain performance is about the same, except fuel consumption is a little more because of the larger engines. The turbocharged engines really drink a lot of fuel during the takeoff and climb, so I always figure each takeoff costs me 10 gallons, plus the 36-an-hour for my fuel computations.

My Navajo has an empty weight of a little more than 4,000 pounds and the gross of a small-fuselage Navajo is 6,536 pounds. Even with the tanks full of 192 gallons of fuel, I can still fly with six adults and luggage without any problems. A Chieftain has a gross weight of 7,045 pounds, and even though it’s a little heavier to start with, it has a slightly higher useful load.

As with most light twins, single-engine performance is the show stopper. The book claims a 236 fpm single-engine rate-of-climb at gross. I’ve never tried a single-engine climb at gross weight and hope I never have to. The problem with single-engine operation in a Navajo is the good engine will only operate at full power for about five minutes until the oil temperature hits the 245-degree redline. My insurance company lets me fly with a Part 135 checkride in lieu of annual recurrent training, so I get a lot of single-engine work in; with two people and full fuel tanks, the Navajo single-engine performance is outstanding. I have had an engine pulled on takeoff, climbed to altitude and shot multiple instrument approaches, all on one engine without breaking a sweat.

Legalizing the Navajo

After I bought my Navajo, the process of the makeover started. The main purpose for the Navajo is to provide free air transportation for people in need. I need the aircraft for the activities of my non-profit company, too. This meant I needed the aircraft to fly during the makeover process. The first thing I needed to do was make the aircraft legal, so I could operate it, to complete an annual and find a set of props. I was very fortunate to find a set of used props with new-style hubs that only had a few hundred hours on them for $7,500. Since a new set was over $30K, I was off to a real good start. The landing gear problems were fixed with simple adjustments and lubrication. A new set of spark plugs cured the left engine from misfiring. The rest of the first annual was uneventful.

Reliable Avionics, Interior Face-lift

After a couple hundred hours of flight time, I really wanted to do something with the panel. I scrounged up a used KLN 90B GPS, a KX165 nav comm, a KY196 comm, a KT76C xpdr, and a WX1000 stormscope for $2,500. Some of the stuff worked and some of it didn’t.

I have a very good friend, Ron Yvanek of Indiana, PA who owns an avionics shop, Air Work Avionics. He helped me get everything working, yellow-tagged and installed. I don’t have any glass, but I fly 500 to 600 hours a year and I am very accustomed to flying any aircraft with whatever avionics are in it. I don’t need state-of-the-art–I just need safe and reliable equipment.

As far as the interior goes, I took the seats out and had the whole interior professionally cleaned. I had the seats recovered with approved fabric for about $1,000. The interior isn’t new but is quite acceptable for my purposes.

Improved Parts for ADs

Anyone who owns an aircraft knows that airworthiness directives are the dreaded enemy. When you get into cabin-class aircraft, the stakes go up. One reason why is the airframes on larger aircraft tend to fly a lot of hours because they are used for commercial operations, making a failure much more likely. The other problem is that the parts tend to be a lot more expensive for larger commercial aircraft than for private aircraft. The Navajo has its share of ADs; however, most of them can be terminated by installing improved parts.

New Paint Scheme

After about three years and taking care of the ADs, I had flown the Navajo about 1,000 hours. I had touched the paint up, but the aircraft really needed a paint job. Estimates for the paint job were between $5,000 and $25,000. Now that’s a pretty big range and I thought very carefully about it. Being an A&P, I know a hastily done job rarely pays off. Anything I have ever painted has only been as good as the preparation of the surface of the object to be painted.

I had my friend Rich Guinther at Dial Eastern States in Cadiz, OH do the paint. I was not sorry for my decision. I have never seen a finer paint job on any light aircraft. The boys at DESAPI really take the extra time to make sure that everything under the paint is as good as the paint. Another decision that I don’t regret is having my paint scheme professionally designed. For $1,000, Craig Barnett at Scheme Designers did an “every-bit-worth-it” job on designing my paint scheme. I wanted my paint job not only to be outstanding in quality but to look good as well. Scheme Designers provided me with five different paint schemes and five color variations each. I just chose the one I liked best. The designer then provided the paint shop with detailed drawings, leaving nothing to chance.

The most famous Navajo modification is the Colemill Panther conversion. The full conversion is to replace the 310-hp engines of a B or C Navajo or the 325-hp engines of a CR Navajo with Chieftain engines. The three-bladed props are replaced with four-bladed ones. New wingtips with landing lights and winglets are installed. Right before I had the paint done, I fell upon a set of Colemill wingtips. Mine were pretty well shot, so I got a hold of the STC and installed them. I found they improve the climb performance a little and help no more with speed reduction than the factory ones. In my opinion, the best feature about them is that they have landing lights in them, so I can have recognition lights with my landing gear up.

A lot of people ask me how much it cost to operate my Navajo. Even with fuel at $4 a gallon, I figure about $250 per hour. Since I am an A&P, my 100-hour inspections and annuals only cost me a few hundred dollars every time unless I have any problems, and even then I only have to buy the parts. The FBO where I work charges a flat rate for Navajo 100-hour inspections at a little less than $3,000.

My insurance with a hull value of $180,000 is about $3,900, but I have more than 1,000 hours in type. Less experience would mean more for insurance.

A factory TIO-540 is around $40,000 with overhauls about $25,000. The TBO on all of the Navajo TIO-540-series engines is 1,800 hours, and with oil-trend monitoring, it can be extended to 2,000 hours.

It’s been over 30 years since the flood in Lock Haven, and my love for the Navajo hasn’t diminished. Last month I was scheduled to fly someone to Hartford, CT in a King Air. We had problems with one of the starter-generators, so we had to scrub. I am friends with the owner of the King Air, so I offered to drop him off with my Navajo. As we started my takeoff run, I realized that I enjoy flying my Navajo more than a King Air. See ya at the airport–may all your dreams come true.