Navion Rangemaster
Tail Number: N8656H
Submitted by: Alessandro
About Me
I was trained as an Army rotary wing pilot in 1972. The participation in the last part of the Viet-Nam war and the implementation of the peace treaty and exchange of prisoners of war were among my duties as a rotary wing aviator by transporting all interested and authorized delegates to facilitate the aforementioned endeavors. I had other lesser duties that were mostly related to support of our aviation unit as far as search for available usable supplies and foods due to the lack of support from units that were returned stateside.
Following military service, medicine became my passion and I graduated with an MD degree in 1980.
In 1991-92 I trained in fixed wing flying. Initially I flew a Grumman Traveler for over 300 hours and in 1998 I bought the North American Navion, mostly because it reminded me of the HUEY, but I enjoyed and still do enjoy flying it. This is an extremely safe and easy aircraft to fly with absolutely no bad habits. It is difficult to stall, and will not spin, it doesn't even have a stall warning device. To stall it accidentally, you need to be dead from the neck up. Has a total of 5 hours of fuel on board flying at 110 Kt, has a rudder-aileron spring connection and will stall at 47 Kt, carries 4 adults (800lbs) and baggage can carry 180 lbs. Max gross weight is 2750 lbs civilian and 3200 lbs military with turbulence airspeed limitations.
I retired at age 70 two years ago in 2019 and have plenty of time for flying which is one of my hobbies, and target shooting, hunting and motorcycling, are my other diversions.
My Aspen Experience
With the Aspen I can run the S-Tec 55X autopilot that follows the flight plan in the Avidyne 540 IFD. This arrangement frees my hands to carryout other duties safely as a single pilot VFR or IFR.
The Aspen will follow GPS, VOR digital and VOR analog input; will follow a heading bug and will maintain altitude.
I follow my airspeed indicator, altimeter and rate of climb with my analog instruments but the Aspen gives me the same redundant information. I additionally have True Airspeed, Ground Speed and outside air temperature with the Aspen.
I maintain an analog Attitude Indicator as a back-up for the Aspen.
All in all, I am very comfortable with the present arrangement. I do want to add an engine analyzer for accurate engine management.
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