Piper PA-34 Seneca

The Piper PA-34 Seneca is a highly popular light transport aircraft, often used for personal transport. It is essentially a twin-engine version of the PA-32 Lance/Saratoga series.

Model History

Since its introduction in 1971 as the PA-34-200 Seneca I, the aircraft has undergone many evolutionary changes. In 1975, responding to complaints about the aircraft's handling qualities, Piper introduced the PA-34-200T Seneca II. The new model incorporated many changes to the aircraft's control surfaces, including enlarged and balanced ailerons, the addition of a rudder anti-servo tab and also a stabilator bobweight. The "T" in the new model designation reflects an upgrade to turbocharged, six cylinder Continental engines for improved performance. Overall, the changes were very effective, but the aircraft was still considered to feel somewhat heavy in flight.

In 1981, the PA-34-220T Seneca III was introduced. Again, the change in model designation reflects an engine upgrade. This time, a different variant of the Continental engines were used with 220 horsepower, although only rated as such for five minutes and then dropping to 200hp. The horsepower increase, combined with the new engines rev limit of 2800rpm (up from 2575rpm) combined for much improved climb and cruise performance. The new aircraft also incorporated a one piece windshield, larger, electrically actuated flaps and a less flimsy instrument panel made of thicker plastic.

After the major upgrades of the Seneca II and III, model revisions were much less drastic. In 1994, the "New" Piper company introduced the Seneca IV. This aircraft was much the same as the Seneca III but offered a streamlined engine cowl for increased cruise performance. Finally, in 1998 the Seneca V was released. Again the cowls were redesigned for increased performance, several cockpit switches were relocated from the panel to the headliner and a slightly different engine varient was used, but this aircraft is very similar to the III and IV models.

Specifications (PA-34-200 Seneca)

Crew: one, pilot
Capacity: 5 passengers
Length: 28 ft 6 in (8.69 m)
Wingspan: 38 ft 11 in (11.85 m)
Height: 9 ft 11 in (3.02 m)
Wing area: 207 ft² (19.4 m²)
Empty: 2,623 lb (1,190 kg)
Loaded: lb ( kg)
Maximum takeoff: 4,200 lb (1,905 kg)
Powerplant: 2x Lycoming IO-360-A1A, 200 hp (150 kW) each

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