PA31 and PA31 -350
Haven't flown them for some years.
However I do recall many things.
If I may caution you on the undercarriage hydraulic system test. It is not foolproof or a guarentee the pump is infact producing FULL output.
After a throrough endorsement and months of scheduled night freight I had my boss onboard. He noticed immediately the gear retraction cycle was longer than normal.
Sure enough, engineering found the pump to be low output and changed it.
It always passed the idle test.
Motto, have an idea of what time things take to cycle as sometimes they deteriorate insidiously.
Aother point is the airplane is basically a 180 knot machine using a lot of horsepower to do it. One of our pilots had a nasty fog unforecast fog experience. I recall he reduced power to 25 inches or less and the fuel flows dropped way back, whilst TAS is still approx 145 kts. This improvement in specific range may be just the thing that'll save your bacon.
Forgive any spelling errors
Safe flying, you will enjoy the PA31 as a sound I.F.R. platform
[ 24 November 2001: Message edited by: another line pilot ]
[ 24 November 2001: Message edited by: another line pilot ]