A Taste of Twin Engines through the Piper Seneca
Being known for many great produce of aircrafts that has been welcomed and most loved by the flying public, Piper Aircraft, Inc. gave the public a taste of a twin engine aircraft in the year 1971 as it introduced the Piper Seneca. Being one of their light aircrafts, the Seneca must have proven its airworthiness as up to this year, its production is still ongoing. The main purpose of the Seneca is for personal and business flying.
This light aircraft is one aircraft developed and produced as a twin-engine version of one of the aircrafts from the Piper Cherokee family €" the Piper Cherokee Six. Its prototype is one Cherokee Six with wing-mounted engines installed and its nose engine retained. In its initial test-flying stages this prototype was flown being a tri-motor aircraft however it then came to a decision to abandon the three-engined designed that was tested. And from there a twin-engined design was developed and tested and its prototype being the PA-34-180 Twin Six first flown on April 25, 1967. With two 180hp Lycoming O-360 engines, a nosewheel landing gear that is fixed and a vertical tail of one Cherokee Six, it wasn't the one that Piper has sought for.
A second prototype of the previous one took flight on August 30, 1968 with other fe3atures being the same only that it had a taller vertical tail and a retractable landing gear. Flying the prototype's wingspan was increased by two feet during the development process and on October 20, 1969 another prototype was flown yet was one that resembles closer to the production standard. This one had on two 200hp Lycoming IO-360-A1A engines. Now this one marks the end of the journey towards creating an aircraft that is Piper's way of giving the public a taste of the twin engines.
Piper Seneca I was certified and introduced in the year 1971, however since in the later part of the year was introduced as a 1972 model. Finally, the Seneca I had the twin engines in the form of the Lycoming IO-360-C1E6. This Seneca had counter rotating engines making it one aircraft with the capacity to eliminate the critical engine limitations as some other light twins would have. Consequently the aircraft becomes more controllable in cases where either of its engines would shut down or fail when on flight. There has been a record of about 934 Seneca I that has been built from then on.
Even with this great addition to the Piper family, they do not overlook any further complaints with regards to the handling qualities of the aircraft. For this reason the Piper does not sit on its laurel but rather enhances it more and introduces the PA-34-200T Seneca II.
This light aircraft is one aircraft developed and produced as a twin-engine version of one of the aircrafts from the Piper Cherokee family €" the Piper Cherokee Six. Its prototype is one Cherokee Six with wing-mounted engines installed and its nose engine retained. In its initial test-flying stages this prototype was flown being a tri-motor aircraft however it then came to a decision to abandon the three-engined designed that was tested. And from there a twin-engined design was developed and tested and its prototype being the PA-34-180 Twin Six first flown on April 25, 1967. With two 180hp Lycoming O-360 engines, a nosewheel landing gear that is fixed and a vertical tail of one Cherokee Six, it wasn't the one that Piper has sought for.
A second prototype of the previous one took flight on August 30, 1968 with other fe3atures being the same only that it had a taller vertical tail and a retractable landing gear. Flying the prototype's wingspan was increased by two feet during the development process and on October 20, 1969 another prototype was flown yet was one that resembles closer to the production standard. This one had on two 200hp Lycoming IO-360-A1A engines. Now this one marks the end of the journey towards creating an aircraft that is Piper's way of giving the public a taste of the twin engines.
Piper Seneca I was certified and introduced in the year 1971, however since in the later part of the year was introduced as a 1972 model. Finally, the Seneca I had the twin engines in the form of the Lycoming IO-360-C1E6. This Seneca had counter rotating engines making it one aircraft with the capacity to eliminate the critical engine limitations as some other light twins would have. Consequently the aircraft becomes more controllable in cases where either of its engines would shut down or fail when on flight. There has been a record of about 934 Seneca I that has been built from then on.
Even with this great addition to the Piper family, they do not overlook any further complaints with regards to the handling qualities of the aircraft. For this reason the Piper does not sit on its laurel but rather enhances it more and introduces the PA-34-200T Seneca II.
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