AOPA PILOT· 88· APRIL 2004

The sole surviving multi-trainer

he New Piper's Seminole began

life 26 years ago as one of a new

breed of multiengine trainers.

Over the years, its competitors,Beechcraft's Duchess and Amer-

ican General's Cougar, have droppedby the wayside. Today the Seminoleand the Beechcraft Baron reign as theworld's only light twins in current pro­duction. The Seminole's total sales

have topped the 683 mark; some 147were sold in the past four years (with2002's 60 deliveries holding the all­time annual sales record). Its closestcompetitor would be Diamond'sdiesel-powered DA42 TwinStar-acanopied, turbocharged, 270-horse­power (135 hp per side) airplane being

their behavior nearVMC. VMc-definedas the minimum airspeed at which di­rectional control can be maintained

with the critical engine inoperative-inpre-Seminole days meant uncom­manded rolling and yawing at air­speeds well above the stall.

Students practicing their VMCdem­onstrations would put the left, or criti­cal, engine (the one that, were its powerlost, would create the most adversehandling characteristics) at a zero­thrust setting, advance the right engine

Lord of the light twins

BY THOMAS A. HORNE

built in Austria. The DA42 was un­

veiled with much ballyhoo in 2002,but has yet to be certified.

The Seminole was built with an eyetoward safety. In the light twin's gloryyears of the 1950s and 1960s, flight in­structors and designated examinershad little federal guidance on practicaltest standards. In at-

tempts to providereal-life engine-outexperiences, someinstructors used poor judgment andwent too far. Hair-raising drills suchas engine cuts right after takeoff,stalls with a windmilling engine, andengine-out stalls in turns sometimesmade engine-out practice all too real.Multiengine training accidents beganto mount.

One reason why earlier multi-train­ers tended to bite back has to do with

to full power, then reduce airspeed bypitching up. At or near VMc-markedby a red radial line on the airspeed indi­cator-students would begin to noticethe onset of an uncontrollable roll and

yaw toward the "dead" engine, in spiteoffull opposite rudder. If not caught intime, or if the loss of control happened

suddenly, or if thestudent botched

the recovery byletting airspeed

bleed off or leaving the good engine'spower on, the result could be a roll tothe inverted. Sometimes this ended

with fatalities, especially in caseswhere instructors cut an engine rightafter takeoff and students allowed air­

speed to drop to VMC-or lower.By the late 1970s, Piper and Beech­

craft decided to tame VMCby installingcounterrotating propellers on their

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MIKE FIZERAOPA PILOT' 89 •APIIIL 2004

\-\\ . \\~

T

But the fact remains: Seminoles continue to be one of the tamest,1f

mainstays of many multi engine training fleets, both large I <

new multi-trainers. This eliminated the

critical engine and lowered VMe- In theSeminole's case, VMC is 56 KIAS-justone knot above the 55-knot stall speedin the landing configuration and oneknot below the clean stall speed.

Never mind that the Wright brothersused counterrotating propellers on their

historic 1903 Flyer. Counter-rotating propellers were

billed as a newly discov­ered antidote to the

VMC rollover, andthey caught on.

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AOPA PILOT' 90 . APRIL 2004

The reduced p-factor and lift momentsfrom the right propeller-thanks to its"new" counterclockwise rotation de­

sign-meant less violent rolling andyawing at VMC' or any other asymmet­ric-power condition. Do a VMC demon­stration below 4,000 feet msl or so in aSeminole, and you're much more likelyto approach a conventional stall beforeany dangerous roIling sets in. Above4,000 feet, the airplane may not be aspolite. Stall speed is a constant, but VMC

decreases with altitude because asym­metric thrust decreases

with altitude. At some point, VMC fallsbelow stall speed. Enter a stall withasymmetric power above that altitude,and you could be faced with a potential­ly nasty stall, one with a dangerous roll­yaw combination.

But the fact remains: Seminoles con­tinues to be one of the tamest, friend­liest light twins ever built. They're theunchallenged mainstays of many multi­engine training fleets, both large andsmall, and they're flying all over the

world. Major avia­tion schools top

riendliest light twins ever built. They're the unchallenged

nct small, and they're flying all over the world.the list of big-volume customers. Someof the schools that use Seminoles as

their flagships include: Embry-RiddleAeronautical University (18 Seminoles);FlightSafety International (25); Univer­sityofNorth Dakota (14); Pan Am Acad­emy (17); Delta Connection Academy(seven); and the biggest operator-Air­line Transport Professionals Inc.(ATP)-with a whopping 76 Seminoles.The overseas market is strong, too. Ionce ferried a Seminole all the way toBangkok, Thailand, where it now servesin a military flying club.

The Seminole is designed with sim­plicity in mind. The fuselage andwings are virtual clones of Piper'sArrow single-engine retractable,which explains why some call theSeminole a "Twin Arrow." The flaps aremechanical, and are actuated by thesame stone-simple floor-mountedhand lever used in scads of earlier

Piper singles, as well as the new 6Xand 6XT. Two 55-gallon fuel tanks

(protected by firewalls) live in hugenacelles behind the engines, andthere are only three fuel selector posi­tions: On, Off, and Crossfeed.

The only quirky system is the Jani­trol gasoline-fired heater, mounted inthe nose cone. It can overheat without

a vigorous flow of outside cooling air.After landing, you have to remember toshut off the heater and run its fan to

keep it from overheating. There's a

squat switch that is supposed to pre­vent an overheat, and an annunciatorthat warns of a too-hot Janitrol, but theidea of a gasoline heater out there inthe nose by its lonesome sometimesmakes me worry. On the other hand, itdoes put out the cabin heat.

Beginning with the 2000 model year,New Piper made some really nice im­provements over the original design.The panel is clean and uncluttered,with a Garmin GNS 430 GPS/nav/com

as standard equipment. A horizontalsituation indicator (HSI) and secondGNS 430 are part of the very popularoptional avionics package, which listsfor an extra $30,780.

The battery master, magneto, fuelpump, and external light switches havebeen moved from a pilot's sidewallpanel to front-and-center locations onthe instrument subpanel. Large dual­pointer manifold pressure and tach­ometer gauges now are stacked vertical­ly, which puts them right in the pilot's-

AOPA PILOT' 91· APRIL 2004

and instructor's-line of sight. Pre-2000models had these stashed above the

pilot's right knee. Newer models alsohave a nice annunciator panel, includ­ing that Janitrol overheat warning.

SHEET

The propellers' unfeathering accu­mulators are other great standard fea­tures of newer Seminoles. These storeoil pressure, then release it to theprop hub when you want to unfeather

an engine. To do an airstart, all you dois advance the prop lever at the ap­propriate airspeed (l00 to 120 knots)and the accumulators start the propsturning. Sure beats the old design,

New Piper Seminole PA-44-180 Standard equipped price: $424,900

SpecificationsPowerplants Lycoming 0-360-E1A6D,

180 hpRecommended TBO 2.000 hr

Propellers Hartzell constant speed.full feathering. 74-in dia

Length 27 ft 7 inHeight 8 ft 6 inWingspan 38 ft 6 inWing area 183.8 sq ftWing loading 21.1Ib/sq ftPower loading 10.5 Ib/hpSeats ,4Standard empty weight 2.603 IbMax ramp weight 3.816 IbMax takeoff weight.. 3.800 IbStandard useful load 1.197 IbPayload w/full fuel 549 IbMax landing weight. 3.800 IbFuel capacity. std 110 gal

(108 gal usable)660 Ib (648 Ib usable)

Baggage capacity 200 Ib, 24 cu ft

PerformanceTakeoff distance. ground roll 1.040 ftTakeoff distance over 50-ft obstacle ..2.200 ft

AOPA PILar· 92 .APRIL 2004

Accelerate-stop distance 2.060 ftMax demonstrated crosswind component .

........................................................ 17 ktRate of climb. sea level. _ _l.375 fpmSingle-engine ROC. sea level 212 fpmCruise speed/range w/45-min rsv

(fuel consumption. ea engine) 7.000 ft@ 75% power. best power mixture.

164 kt/ 610 nm (11.6 gph)@ 55% power. best economy mixture.

143 ktj 750 nm (8.7 gph)Service ceiling 15.000 ftSingle-engine service ceiling 3.800 ftLanding distance over 50-ft obstacle .

.................................................... 1,490 ftLanding distance. ground roll 770 ft

Limiting and Recommended AirspeedsvR (rotation) 75 KIASVx (best angle of climb) 82 KIASVy (best rate of climb) 88 KIASVXSE (best single-engine angle of climb) .

.................................................... 82 KIAS

VYSE (best single-engine rate of climb) ......................... _ 88 KIAS

VMC (min control w/one engine inoperative)

................................................. 56 KIAS

VSSE (min intentional one-engine operation).................................................. 82 KIAS

VA (design maneuvering) 135 KIASVFE (max flap extended) 111 KIASVLE (max gear extended) 140 KIASVLO (max gear operating)

Extend 140 KIASRetract 109 KIAS

VNO (max structural cruising) 169 KIASVNE (never exceed) 202 KIASVS1 (stall. clean) 57 KIASVso (stall. in landing configuration) .

................................................ 55 KIAS

For more information. contact The NewPiper Aircraft Inc .. 2926 Piper Drive.Vero Beach. Florida 32960; telephone772/567-4361; fax 772/978-6584; orvisit the Web site (www.newpiper.com).

All specifications are based on manufac­turer's calculations. All performancefigures are based on standard day.standard atmosphere. sea level. grossweight conditions unless otherwise noted.

The trip proved that the Seminole is as fine and

capable a cruising machine as it is a trainer.mountains, or over water. I can un­derstand that. One of the best flyingadventures I ever had was in a Turbo

Seminole, only 87 of which were built.I flew N8264f; a demonstrator loadedwith options-even weather radar­on a huge loop around the Caribbean,stopping at Stella Maris, SouthCaicos, Great lnagua, St. Thomas, St.Croix, Antigua, Martinique, Jamaica,and the Cayman Islands. The tripproved that the Seminole is as fineand capable a cruising machine as itis a trainer.

That was way back in 1981, when theSeminole was still a fresh concept and

there was debateabout whether

the design wouldhang in there forthe long run.

Now we havethe answer. /alA

which calls for using the starters touncage the props.

My most recent Seminole time wasin a trainer operated by ATP.ATP offerspackaged courses aimed at earningadvanced certificates and ratings, aswell as ab initio training that takes youfrom ground-pounder to airline trans­port pilot.

ATP has its own operations manual,and flying the school's Seminolesmeans learning its procedures andchecklists. Some, like limiting VLE andVLQ to 120 knots (instead of the pilot'soperating handbook's 140 knots), aremeant to spare the airplane from un­necessary wear and tear. Others are tomake you fly the airplane with a disci­plined professionalism.

As an instrument flying platform,the Seminole is exemplary. Thanks tothe T-tail there's little in the way ofpitch changes and retrimming require­ments with configuration changes. Usethe proper target values and the air­plane behaves well during instrumentprocedures.

Cruise speed? Single-engine climbperformance? Range? These values areabout what you'd expect from a lightpiston twin. The book says you can seespeeds as high as 168 KTASat 75-per­cent power, but in my experience thisis often optimistic. Single-engineclimb, posted as 212 fpm, is as lacklus­ter as any light piston twin. But withtemperatures below standard and alight load, you can see single-engineclimb rates pushing 400 fpm. Single­engine work? In spite of the counter­rotating engines there's more thanenough asymmetric thrust to give stu­dents strong legs.

Landings are uncomplicated, andusing short-field techniques (fullflaps, 75 KIAS or slightly less over thefence, depending on weight) can pro­duce breath-takingly carrierlike land­ing distances.

Although aimed at the trainingmarket, the Seminole also appeals toa cadre of owner-operators who sim­ply want a late-model multi for peaceof mind when flying at night, over

•I Links toadditional .

information about

The New PiperSeminole may befound on AOPA

Online (www.aopa.orgjpilotjlinks.shtml) .Keyword search:Seminole.

E-mail the authorat tom. horne@

aopa.org