Type certificate keeps
Navions up to date
By Randy Dufault
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Veterans of
foreign wars. These various Navion models represent those which
served in the Armed Forces of the United States shortly after
North American Aviation created the classic family-sedan-sized
single. Photo by Dave Higdon |
With military orders
dwindling at the end of World War II, the North American aircraft
company decided to use its extensive airplane-building experience to
make a craft for the business and personal travel market. The result of
their decision was the Navion, a four-place, retractable-gear, low-wing
airplane that, in some ways, bears a strong family resemblance to its
larger North American sibling, the P-51 Mustang.
This year marks the 60th
anniversary of the Navion (pronounced with a long a) and in recognition
of that milestone, dozens of the craft are visiting EAA AirVenture
Oshkosh 2006.
The Navions here
represent a good portion of the estimated 600 remaining airplanes still
in flyable condition. North American built 2,500 of the craft.
"You look at any
other type aircraft, regardless of the number built, and for that many
to be flying 60 years hence, that’s pretty amazing," said Bill
Putney, president of the Golden Gate Navioneers, a California-based
association of Navion owners.
Durability has been a
hallmark of the type. "If you look at the repair manual for this
airplane, the thinnest metal is thicker than the thickest panels on most
airplanes," Putney said. "There’s a lot of aluminum in
there."
"Everything was done
like it was going to go to war," Putney added. "I don’t
think the people at North American knew how to do it any other
way."
"We compare it to a
Hummer," said Chris Gardner, president and CEO of Sierra Hotel Aero
Inc., "they have stout gear; you can take them in and out of
unimproved strips. They’re basically a short take-off and landing
airplane. But they’re not as ugly [as a Hummer]."
Gardner’s company,
based in South St. Paul, Minnesota, owns the type certificate and all of
the original production tooling that built the airplanes. With the
certificate, Gardner is considered the manufacturer of the airplane and
can produce any part necessary to keep the craft in the air.
Recently Putney had a
need for Gardner’s services. During an annual inspection, an old,
improperly done repair to a complex structural component was discovered
in the tail of Putney’s Navion. A phone call to Gardner was all it
took to get an original part.
Gardner simply dug out
the drawings and the tooling, built up the part and in two weeks Putney
had a factory-new component to correct the errant repair.
As the manufacturer of
the airplane, Gardner has a great deal of flexibility in making
improvements available to the fleet. One example is a multifunction
electronic engine display installation currently under development.
"[The display] will
actually be a standard replacement part," Gardner said.
Often such improvements
are installed under a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC). With the
component as a standard replacement part, the regulatory and paperwork
overhead for the upgrade is much simpler.
Listing some of the other
modernized features his company has available Gardner added, "We’ve
upgraded the engine mount and built a composite cowling, which gets rid
of the cowl flaps, and we’ve installed 24-volt electrical
systems."
At this point Gardner doesn’t expect to
make entire new airplanes, but will continue building parts, restoring
airframes and developing improvements. With his support, along with the
very active owner organizations, one could certainly expect to see a
large Navion fleet still flying on its 120th anniversary.
