Project Description
MPH
SEATS
Piper PA-23 Apache
Role: Twin Engine Light Piston Utility
National Origin: United States
Manufacturer: Piper Aircraft
First Flight: 1954
Primary User: Civilian Owners
Number Built: 6976
The Piper PA-23, named Apache and later Aztec, is a four-to-six-seat twin-engined light aircraft aimed at the general aviation market. The United States Navy and military forces in other countries also used it in small numbers. Originally designed in the 1950s by the Stinson Aircraft Company, Piper Aircraft manufactured the Apache and a more powerful version, the Aztec, in the United States from the 1950s to the 1980s.
The PA-23 was the first twin-engined Piper aircraft, and was developed from a proposed “Twin Stinson” design, inherited when Piper bought the Stinson Division of the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation.The prototype PA-23 was a four-seat low-wing all-metal monoplane with a twin tail, powered by two 125 hp Lycoming O-290-D piston engines; it first flew on 2 March 1952.The aircraft performed badly and it was redesigned with a single vertical stabilizer and an all-metal rear fuselage and more powerful 150 hp Lycoming O-320-A engines.
Two new prototypes of the redesigned aircraft, now named Apache, were built in 1953 and entered production in 1954; 1,231 were built. In 1958 the Apache 160 was produced by upgrading the engines to 160 hp (119 kW); 816 were built. The Apache 160 was superseded in 1962 by the Aztec-derived Apache 235. With a 1962 price of $45,000, the Apache 235 featured the Aztec’s 235 hp (175 kW) engines and swept tail surfaces (119 built).
General characteristics
- Crew: one
- Capacity: five passengers
- Payload: 1,600 lb (725 kg) cargo
- Length: 31 ft 2¾ in (9.52 m)
- Wingspan: 37 ft 2½ in (11.34 m)
- Height: 10 ft 4 in (3.15 m)
- Wing area: 207.6 ft² (19.28 m²)
- Airfoil: USA 35-B (modified)
- Aspect ratio: 6.8:1
- Empty weight: 3,180 lb (1,442 kg)
- Max. takeoff weight: 5,200 lb (2,360 kg)
- Powerplant: 2 × Lycoming IO-540-C4B5 normally aspirated air-cooled flat-six piston engines, 250 hp (187 kW) each
- Propellers: two bladed Hartzell HC-E2YK-2RB constant speed propeller
Performance
- Never exceed speed: 277 mph (240 knots, 446 km/h)
- Maximum speed: 215 mph (187 knots, 346 km/h)
- Cruise speed: 172 mph (150 knots, 278 km/h) at 10,200 ft (3,110 m) (long-range cruise)
- Stall speed: 68 mph (59 knots, 109 km/h) (flaps down)
- Range: 1,519 miles (1,320 nmi, 2,445 km) at long-range cruise
- Service ceiling: 18,950 ft (5,775 m) (absolute ceiling)
- Rate of climb: 1,400 ft/min (7.1 m/s)