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Navions

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NookyBooky

Beach Bum Extraordanaire
Joined
Nov 8, 2002
Posts
406
Who likes them, who hates them and why? I'm thinking about buying one of the older L-17 style Navs made by North American, preferably with a Lycoming in it. Are they all they're cracked up to be? The only bad things I've heard about them is that they're ugly and most have Continental engines, is there anything else I should look out for?
 
When I flew jumpers, there were two Navions at the airport. One of them was rumored to be own and flown by an old Navy aviator.

I'm flying jumpers one Saturday afternoon when some nice Texas thunderstorms come rolling in. I just finished tying down my ratty 182 jump plane when the Navy guy with the Navion fires her up. I figure the guy is going to move her from the patio hangars to the metal hangars. No such luck...he taxis to the end of the runway for some pattern work. Unbelievable. The DZ owner, FBO manager, the field mechanic and me hunker down under the FBO roof to witness the rodeo that is about to take place.

He manged to get two circuits in before giving up a PIREP over Unicom consisting of "there sure is a lot of wind and lightining up here." No duh. On his third landing, he gets blown off the side of the runway and sticks the right main. Shuts her down and calls out over the radio for a tow.

Other than that, I know nothing about them.
 
Pretty slow, and all hydraulic, so there's a bit more maintenance than, say, an old Bonanza. Nice flying airplanes, though. I've flown 'em with the original C-185, C-225, O-470N. Got a buddy with a 550 hung on the front (after de-mating the wing to beef things up for the mod) that should be entertaining to fly. They're good short-field airplanes, but with the under-cambered wing and all that weight and girth, they're all quite slow for the horsepower.
 
Oh, Wow. Trust me, I know Navions, and have never flown one. Let me say this, there are SO many mods and STCs that your average mechanic could never figure them out, and that is good. Slower than dog poop on a December day, and stronger than the Brooklyn Bridge, and for that part I can attest to.

www.bdkingpress.com
 
You better get one with a roll cage, no way I would fly in one after seeing this at my airport. The POS was tied down during a storm and it STILL flipped because the attachment sites ripped loose from the airframe. If you ground looped one of these, you would be DEAD MEAT!






Just take a look at this!




http://photos.yahoo.com/tdturbo2001


BTW: The Garmin is in my 182RG, not bad huh? Sure we had a bit of a tail wind but I made it from MDW to KEYW in 4:55.:D



 
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Having worked on a particular navion for the last 1.5 years, my advice would be to have a through pre-buy inspection. Look over the hydraulic system, make sure everything is working in the "power pack" (valve unit behind panel). Ideally, jack the plane and check the play in all the landing gear linkages. Check out the tail section, specifically where the horizontal stabilizer attaches - there are a few nasty AD's on that part. Also look at the aft bulkhead where the tailskid connects. They are almost always cracked. If the airplane has the original windows held in with the rubber molding, be advised that it is no longer available, and you'll have to get updated windows at some point.
Get someone that really knows Navions to look at it!
If everything looks good, they can be a really nice plane. However, they can also turn into a money pit, more-so than other light aircraft.
From a flight standpoint, I enjoy flying the navion, and find it has a very solid feel to it. Not exceptionally fast, but fun to fly nonetheless.
 
fr0g said:
Having worked on a particular navion for the last 1.5 years, my advice would be to have a through pre-buy inspection. Look over the hydraulic system, make sure everything is working in the "power pack" (valve unit behind panel). Ideally, jack the plane and check the play in all the landing gear linkages. Check out the tail section, specifically where the horizontal stabilizer attaches - there are a few nasty AD's on that part. Also look at the aft bulkhead where the tailskid connects. They are almost always cracked. If the airplane has the original windows held in with the rubber molding, be advised that it is no longer available, and you'll have to get updated windows at some point.
Get someone that really knows Navions to look at it!
If everything looks good, they can be a really nice plane. However, they can also turn into a money pit, more-so than other light aircraft.
From a flight standpoint, I enjoy flying the navion, and find it has a very solid feel to it. Not exceptionally fast, but fun to fly nonetheless.


Until you flip it upside down while parked, get a wind gust, and get crushed to death, aside from that little minor detail, it's a fine aircraft.
 

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