As spring arrives in the far north, we fly through south-western Norway and again take a closer look at another aviation classic aircraft – the Piper PA-31 Navajo…
Our aircraft
Spurred on by their company founder, engineers at Piper Aircraft designed a six- to eight-place, twin turbo piston-engine model. Becoming available in 1967, the PA-31 Navajo featured a wide cabin and aisle, generous baggage compartments and perhaps importantly for its ultimate success, no real competition. During its 17-year production life, the base model was modified, extended and upgraded so that by the time production ceased in 1974, almost 4,000 had been built.
It was primarily operated by small feeder airlines, freight carriers, executive transport services and even as private aircraft for the well heeled. Pilots and operators loved the Navajo as it was easy to fly and was fitted with a reasonably priced autopilot, had good operating range and was quite economical for the era.
As the Navajo is such a successful and common aircraft, you will have no problem in finding one for your preferred flight sim platform. This issue, we are flying the Carenado PA31 Navajo HD for X-Plane 11.
Users of FSX/P3D shouldn’t despair as Carenado also produces a PA-31 Navajo for FSX/P3D and the Pilot Notes for this issue also contain listings of suitable FSX/P3D scenery, including the excellent Orbx Simulation Norway series. You can find the Pilot’s Notes and some relevant charts in the downloads section - Norway Flight Adventure download.
Note that the first two legs are purely VFR and rely on some attention from the pilot (you!) to maintain track. We recommend a utility such as Plan-G (www.tasoftware.co.uk) which uses Open Street Map data to give you details of some of the visual features you’ll be overflying. This utility works with FSX/P3D and X-Plane and also allows you to connect to the sim so you can position yourself on a moving map. All aerodrome and approach charts are freely available online and you will certainly want to obtain the ENNO aerodrome and LOC12 RWY 12 charts, and the ENGM aerodrome and ILS RWY 19R charts as a minimum.
The customer is always right!
We are placing you in the captain’s seat of your Navajo based in the Norwegian city of Bergen/ENBR. You work for a charter operator which flies tourists on scenic fjord excursions of various lengths, as well as some private business charters across south- west Norway. Your first two flights of the day take six passengers on a flight up two of Norway’s most iconic fjords, Klosterfjorden and Sognefjorden. They are both quite close to Bergen and you have been asked to make a stopover at Sogndal Haukasen/ENSG for a bite of lunch before returning to Bergen. In a rare stroke of fortune, the weather today is just stunning with clear skies, mild temperatures and light southerly winds.
Before loading your passengers, ensure your fuel tanks are about half full as this will easily cover the 250nm legs with enough in reserve should this unseasonably nice weather deteriorate. Once you have warmed up the engines, taxi to the threshold of Runway 17. After take-off, maintain 171° and track direct towards the Stord Sorstokken/ STD VOR on 113.40MHz as you climb to 2,500ft. Why so low? This is a VFR flight and we want to give our paying passengers a good view when we head up the fjords.
Overhead Stord Sorstokken, turn left and track up around 046°M through the broad entrance to Klosterfjorden. Depending on your scenery, you may need to extend your southbound leg another 5nm or so to clear the southern end of Stord island before tracking northeast. Visually track up the fjord and enjoy the scenery as the sides gradually close in. You should pass over a bridge at Hardangerbrua and this is your cue that the fjord is about to fork. If you are confident in handling the Navajo, initially take the right fork towards Eidfjord as it is very pretty. Then make a 180° turn to track back towards the fork and this time take the north-east fork and start to climb to 5,500ft.
You will soon see that this part of the fjord rises to meet a serious mountain range ahead. If you maintain 5,500ft or above, you will clear the broader range and only have to watch out for the occasional peak. As you reach the end of the fjord and are clear of the hills, track 012°M. Your passengers will delight at the rugged terrain not far beneath them as you maintain this track for 20nm, at which point you will see the waters of the Aurlandsfjorden between some ridges. You can now start a descent to 2,500ft as terrain allows. Follow this fjord in a northerly direction until you enter the wider Sognefjorden – another iconic Norwegian fjord. As you enter this fjord, your planned landing ground at Sogndal Haukasen/ENSG is 5nm to the northeast and is serviced by the SOG VOR on 114.20MHz.
Sogndal airstrip is a 1,109m (3,300ft) asphalt strip running 06/24. Note that it is at an elevation of 1,632ft and is not at the edge of the fjord but rather about half a nautical mile inshore and may be partly obscured by the adjacent hill. Your track sets you up nicely for downwind on Runway 24. Taxi to the main tower building after landing and allow your passengers 90 minutes for their lunch. Hope you brought your sandwiches.
Once your guests have returned, depart Sogndal on Runway 24 and climb to 5,500ft as you follow the Sognefjorden in a generally westward direction. Your arrival back into Bergen will be via the Vollo/VOO VOR 114.85MHz. Given the terrain between you and Vollo, continue to follow the fjord westward until you can intercept the 210° radial inbound at 5,500ft. This will give you some ground clearance without you having to track all the way to the west coast. From Vollo, track 171° south to intercept Bergen’s ILS for Runway 17 on 109.90MHz. If you prefer to make a visual approach, do so from the western side of the ILS to avoid the built-up areas and higher terrain to the east. After landing, bid farewell to your very satisfied guests and head to the crew room, where you are given a new charter.
IFR Charter
Norway has a large number of relatively small airfields with runways under 3,500ft. Hence the Navajo is very well suited to lower level operations here and while using an IFR- equipped Navajo for VFR tourist runs up the fjords is fine, it is also the regular business charters to these smaller communities that help pay the bills and this type of work has been the core of the Piper Navajo’s workload.
Your next leg involves flying some Norwegian Civil Aviation Authority officers from Bergen to the town of Notodden/ENNO where they will inspect some gliders, as Notodden is a well- known gliding centre. You will then return them to Oslo that evening. The weather is starting to deteriorate and you can expect reduced visibility and gusty south-westerly winds.
Set your visibility to less than 10nm, surface winds 220/12kts gusting 20kts, QNH 995 (29.94 In Hg) with scattered cumulus between 5,000 and 10,000ft. Make sure you have sufficient fuel for the 128nm run to Notodden, plus the 83nm run to Oslo’s Gardermoen Airport and 60 minutes reserves should the weather become more severe while en route. Your first leg flight plan is ENBR HE EDDO at 9,000ft. After take-off on Runway 17, turn left on to 080°M to intercept the 108°M radial outbound on the Flesland/FLE VOR on 114.50MHz as you climb to 9,000ft. Enroute you will pass over some spectacular scenery including the deep Hardangerfjord.
As we cruise along, we have a little time to explore some interesting features of the Navajo. It is a credit to the designers that even today, it remains a recognisable aircraft with the long nose, wide, high cabin and those props that seem to stand a very long way in front of the engine cowling. This is no accident and they have been called Tiger Shark cowlings as they look so sharp and aggressive. The reason they are so far forward is so that the props operate in completely clean air which has not been disturbed by the large fuselage. This results in greater efficiency and reduced operating costs, which of course is always a bonus to fleet managers.
Many a young pilot proudly flew the PA-31 as it was a much bigger aircraft than anything in the class at the time and they were held in awe by other pilots. But what these proud young pilots didn’t let on was that the Navajo was in fact a very easy aircraft to fly despite the size. It was a dream to handle as long as you followed some rules and the single engine minimum control speed (Vmc), which was often the scourge of light twin pilots, was actually lower than the stall speed when in the landing configuration. This was unheard of at the time and meant that even if one engine quit on late approach, a pilot could safely continue to land without fear of losing directional control.
It is now time to start planning our arrival into Notodden. The airfield lies next to a lake at the eastern end of a narrow valley and the NDB/LOC approach requires you to track 112° inbound on the NT localiser (110.70MHz) while also descending at a much steeper-than- normal glideslope of 4.1°. To give yourself the best chance of making the approach on the first attempt, descend to 6,000ft and line up on the localiser by 20nm inbound. You can use the HE NDB (324KHz) to assist you. Slow to be at around 140 knots at 13.5DME when you should lower your gear and at least one stage of flap so that you can start this steep descent right on 13.5DME at around 110 knots.
An aviation rule of thumb tells us that we should descent at around 750fpm to make a 4.1° glideslope at 100 KIAS. The ENNO LOC RWY 12 approach chart highlights the key altitude versus distance parameters for this approach, and provided you don’t descend below 1,440ft you will be safe. If you don’t want to land with a small downwind component, fly a right downwind leg over the lake before turning back to land on Runway 30.
On to Oslo
It is now dusk as your clients arrive back at the Navajo to be taken on the 83nm leg to Oslo Gardermoen/ENGM Airport. Take- off on Runway 30 and climb straight ahead towards the HE NDB as you climb. At around 4,000ft, it is safe to make a right turn and track direct to the Sigdal/SIG VOR 117.70MHz on the 035° radial. Level off at 7,000ft and navigate to Sigdal before turning right and tracking direct to the Gardermoen/GRM VOR on 115.95MHz. Start your descent to 5,000ft at approximately 20DME, but be aware of the generally high ground to the west of Gardermoen. At 15DME, make a left turn and fly the 13DME arc to intercept the Runway 19R localiser (111.30MHz). You can descend to 3,000ft once you are within 10nm of the runway. Fly the ILS or make a visual final approach and exit the runway to the right after touchdown so you can taxi to the general aviation apron on the west side of the airfield.
Well Done!
Remember to download the Pilot’s Notes - Norway Flight Adventure download - as it suggests a number of optional flights for X-Plane and FSX/ P3D, which will give you a taste of what flight simulation in Norway can offer. Until next issue – Farvel!
