Piper PA-24 Comanche

The 260C introduced a new "Tiger Shark" cowling, max gross weight of 3200 pounds, cowl flaps, and an aileron-rudder interconnect.

Cruise speed was advertised as 150-161 knots with fuel flow of 12.5-14.1 gallons per hour.

To prevent possible aft center of gravity problems due to the increased gross weight and its fifth and sixth seats, the propeller shaft was extended.

This moved the center of gravity slightly forward.

With a useful load of 1427 pounds it has the largest payload of all of the Comanches except the 400.

Often mistaken on the ramp for the 400 model, the slightly longer cowling includes a distinctively longer nose gear door, as compared to the B models and older versions.

New, they sold for $36,550 to $45,990.

260 B

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Comanche 260TC (turbo)

The 260-TC (1970 to 1972) had a turbo normalizing system of dual manually controlled Rajay turbochargers.

These were controlled by what Piper called a "second throttle" on the power quadrant.

This manually controlled turbocharger was used by first using throttle to bring manifold pressure up to the desired level.

If conditions are such that insufficient manifold pressure is developed for the task at hand, then the pilot would begin closing the turbo's wastegate by moving the turbocharger lever forward.

Comanche 400

The PA-24-400 Comanche 400^{[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]}, while identical in planform to other single-engined Comanches, is structurally strengthened, primarily in the tail.

The aircraft has an extra nose rib in the stabilator and in the vertical fin.

The stabilator, vertical fin, and rudder of the 400 share virtually no common parts with the 180, 250, and 260 hp (190 kW) Comanches.

In addition, the 400's rudder is aerodynamically balanced in a manner similar to that of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and does not have the lead external balance weights of the lower-powered single-engine Comanches.

The Comanche 400 is powered by the 400 [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] 8-cylinder [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] engine, an engine developed specifically for the Comanche.<sup>[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]

[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]</sup>Only 148 PA-24-400s were built.

The aircraft's high fuel burn means that it is expensive to operate and there have been cooling problems with the rear cylinders of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] eight cylinder engine.

Even with the huge engine the PA-24-400 only manages a top speed of 194 knots (360 km/h) and cruising speed of 185 knots (343 km/h), considerably slower than more modern light aircraft, like the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], operating with much less horsepower.[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]

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Un IO-720, celui-ci semble équipé d'un turbo compresseur

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The Comanche 400 has a three-blade propeller and carries 100 gallons of fuel, or 130 gallons with optional extended tanks.

Fuel burn was advertised as 16-23 gallons per hour, at 55%-75% power.

The 400 had a typical empty weight of 2,110 pounds and a max gross weight of 3,600 pounds.

New base price for 1964 was $28,750 according to PIPER AIRCRAFT by Roger W. Peperell.

Twin Comanche

Le lien Piper PA-30 ouvert sur Wikipedia.en

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The Piper PA-30 Twin Comanche is an [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] twin-engined cabin monoplane designed and built by [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

It was twin-engine development of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] single-engine aircraft.

A variant with counter-rotating propellers was designated the Piper PA-39 Twin Comanche C/R.

Development

The Twin Comanche was designed to replace the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in the company's line up of products.

The Twin Comanche was developed from the single engined Comanche by [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] who at the time operated a facility that specialized in the modification of production aircraft.

The normally aspirated aircraft was equipped with two 4-cylinder 160 hp (120 kW) Lycoming [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]-B1A fuel injected engines, but 200 hp (150 kW) engines were available as a modification.

A version with [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] engines for higher altitude flight was also developed, using IO-C1A engines of the same nominal power.

Comanche engines enjoyed long TBO's (2000 hours for the B1A) and developed a reputation for reliability.

The PA-39 was a version with counter-rotating engines (to eliminate the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]) that replaced the PA-30 in the early 1970s.

The Twin Comanche was produced on the same Lock Haven, Pennsylvania production line as its single-engine cousin; production ceased when the factory was flooded in 1972.

Piper chose at that time to focus on its equally-popular Cherokee 140/180/235/Arrow line, manufactured in Florida, and its highly popular twin-engine Seneca, which is essentially a Twin Cherokee Six.

The [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] had been scheduled to replace the PA-39 in the 1973-4 timeframe.

Three were manufactured, and the aircraft was already fully certified when the decision was made not to proceed with the manufacture.

One of the three Arapahos was destroyed in a flat spin accident in 1973; the test pilot (who was none other than future aviation entrepreneur [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]) successfully escaped.

One was scrapped by Piper. One remains flightworthy as of this writing but is not currently being flown.

Design

The Twin Comanche is a low-wing cantilever monoplane with a retractable tricycle landing gear.

The Twin Comanche is the most fuel efficient aircraft in its class.

With tip tanks, the aircraft holds 120 gallons (454 l) of fuel.

Fuel burn at typical cruise settings is approximately 15.5 gph (58.7 lph) with a cruise speed of 165 kts.

It easily climbs to 18,000' (5,500 m) when desired (24,000' - 7,300 m - if turbocharged). When compared with the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] (in reality a Twin Arrow), the Twin Comanche goes faster, carries more, burns less fuel, climbs more rapidly and ultimately higher, is quieter, and is more difficult for a novice to land.


When compared to the Seneca, which is really quite a different aircraft, the more noticeable differences are in handling.

Another contemporary competitor to the Twin Comanche was the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

A similar airplane in form and function was the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], which went into production after the Twin Comanche's production run ended.

Operational history

An early high-ratio of training accidents on the original Twin Comanche was reduced by raising the minimum airspeed at which engine-out flights were conducted.

In the 1960s, engine-out stalls were performed as part of multiengine training at low altitudes.

This, combined with the Twin Comanche's ease of entry into a flat spin if an engine-out stall is taken too far, led to many early accidents.


A revision of training procedures combined with revised placarded speed restrictions for single engine operation as well as a service bulletin which added a rudder-aileron interconnect and leading edge stall strips resulted in significant improvement in the accident rate.