ENAER T-35 Pillan (Volcano)

Two-Seat Basic Trainer Aircraft

Chile | 1985

"Over 150 ENAER T-35 Pillan basic trainers were completed for service with eight different operators including the Chilean and Spanish air forces."

Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 05/13/2020 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site; No A.I. was used in the generation of this content.

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For much of its existence, the Chilean Air Force has been hugely dependent upon foreign design types to stock its active flying inventory and this included a modest fleet of basic trainers. Pressed by a 1976 U.S. arms embargo, the country called on Piper Aircraft for assistance in design and development of a new trainer aircraft. A first-flight of this machine was had (in prototype form) on March 6th, 1981. From this arrived the ENAER T-35 "Pillan" ("Volcano") in 154 examples, mostly assembled locally in Chile. Production spanned from late-1984 into 1991.

Piper completed two flyable prototypes as "XBT" and "YBT" under the "PA-28R-300" company designation (XBT was later lost in a crash in Chile). The initial production form became the "T-35A" and this entered service with the Chilean Air Force during August of 1985. The design was very conventional, seating the student and instructor in tandem under a large, side-hinged canopy. The engine was fitted to the nose in the usual way and the tail was given a single fin with low-mounted horizontal planes. The wing mainplanes were low-mounted along the fuselage sides and fitted just ahead of midships. The tricycle undercarriage was retractable.

Dimensions included a length of 26 feet, a wingspan of 28.9 feet and a height of 7.7 feet. Empty weight was 1,835lb against an MTOW of 2,900lb. Power from the Avco Lycoming AEIO-540-K1K5 6-cylinder, air-cooled engine reached 300 horsepower. Maximum speed was 195 miles per hour with cruising at 165 mph. Its range was out to 750 miles with a reported service ceiling of 19,000 feet and rate-of-climb of 1,525 feet-per-minute.

While the T-35A designation served to cover the primary flight training models, the "T-35B" arrived as an instrument training platform. The "T-35C" became a primary trainer form that was delivered to Spain (final local assembly by CASA) for use by the Spanish Air Force and known locally as the E.26 "Tamiz". The "T-35D" was a similar model but shipped to both Panama and Paraguay. The "T-35DT" arrived as a turboprop-powered form fitting the Allison 250-B17D series engine of 420 horsepower. It was originally known as the "T-35XT".

The "T-35S" became an aerobatic high-performance model seating just one crew and the T-35T "Aucan" was an improved turboprop model.

The "Pillan 2000" was a modernized form of the original T-35.

The complete list of operators became Chile, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay and Spain. All of these powers continue to operate the aircraft in varying numbers with Spain the largest (35 examples) as of 2017. The Chilean Air Force relies on some nineteen T-35 trainers today (2017).

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May 2020 - The Chilean Air Force seeks to upgrade its aging fleet of Pillan trainers. ENAER has proposed the work which would cover some 40 existing airframes producing the modernized "Pillan II" designation.

Power & Performance
Those special qualities that separate one aircraft design from another. Performance specifications presented assume optimal operating conditions for the ENAER T-35 Two-Seat Basic Trainer Aircraft.

1 x Avco Lycoming AEIO-540-K1K5 6-cylinder air-cooled piston engine developing 300 horsepower.
Propulsion

193 mph
310 kph | 167 kts
Max Speed

19,094 ft
5,820 m | 4 miles
Service Ceiling

749 miles
1,205 km | 651 nm
Operational Range

1,525 ft/min
465 m/min
Rate-of-Climb

City-to-City Ranges
Operational range when compared to distances between major cities (in KM).

NYC

LON

PAR

BER

MOS

TOK

SYD

LAX

NYC

Structure
The nose-to-tail, wingtip-to-wingtip physical qualities of the ENAER T-35 Two-Seat Basic Trainer Aircraft.

2
(MANNED)
Crew

26.1 ft
7.97 m
O/A Length

28.9 ft
(8.80 m)
O/A Width

7.7 ft
(2.35 m)
O/A Height

1,841 lb
(835 kg)
Empty Weight

2,899 lb
(1,315 kg)
MTOW

Design Balance
The three qualities reflected below are altitude, speed, and range. The more full the box, the more balanced the design.

RANGE

ALT

SPEED

Variants
Notable series variants as part of the ENAER T-35 Pillan (Volcano) family line.

Pier PA-28R-300 - Piper Aircraft company designation

XBT - Original Piper prototype

YBT - Secondary Piper prototype

T-35A "Pillan" - Initial production model; basic flight trainer for Chile.

T-35B - Instrument trainer for Chile.

T-35C - Basic flight trainer for Spain.

T-35D - Basic flight trainer for Panama and Paraguay.

T-35DT (T-35XT) - Fitted with Allison 250-B17D turboprop engine.

T-35S - Aerobatic, single-seat model.

T-35T "Aucan" - Improved model with turboprop engine.

"Pillan 2000" - Modernized T-35 aircraft.

"Pillan II" - Proposed, modernized Pillan I series aircraft.

Operators
Global customers who have evaluated and/or operated the ENAER T-35 Pillan (Volcano). Nations are displayed by flag, each linked to their respective national aircraft listing.

Total Production: 154 Units
Contractor(s): Piper Aircraft - USA / ENAER - Chile

[ Chile; Dominican Republic; Ecuador; El Salvador; Guatemala; Panama; Paraguay; Spain ]

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Image of the ENAER T-35 Pillan (Volcano)

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Going Further...
The ENAER T-35 Pillan (Volcano) Two-Seat Basic Trainer Aircraft appears in the following collections:

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