Named after a valley in Israel's Negev dessert, the STOL transport Arava was intended to fulfil a variety of civil and military roles. It has full rough-field performance capabilities and a twin-boom layout was chosen to ease loading through the swing-tail cargo door. Design started in 1966 and the construction of the prototypes began towards the end of the same year.
The first prototype (4X-IAI) flew for the first time November 27, 1969 powered by two 720 shp PT6A-27 turboprops; while conducting flutter tests it crashed on November 19, 1970, on its 93rd flight and after 110 flying hours. The second prototype (4X-IAA) flew for the first time on May 8, 1971, and the FAA Type Certificate for the civil production version IAI-101 Arava was issued in April 1972.
The 101 can carry 20 passengers, so does the IAI-102 Arava, the latter version was certified by the Israel Civil Aviation Authorities in April 1976. It was also offered in a VIP configuration for 12 passengers, as a flying clinic, and in versions for mapping, mining research, oil prospecting, rainmaking, bridge construction, and as a flying laboratories for agriculture and health ministries.
The IAI-201 Arava military transport version was based on the IAI-101 and the prototype (4X-IAB) made its first flight on March 7, 1972. The IAI-201 can carry 24 fully equipped military personnel or 17 paratroopers or 12 stretchers with 2 attendants. It can be armed with two side-mounted rocket pods with seven 2.67 in (68 mm) rockets each and a 0.50 in (12.7 mm) Browning machine gun pack on each side and an aft-firing machine gun. Three IAI-201 were lease-operated by the Israeli AF during the Yom Kippur war in October 1973.
The IAI-202 Arava was a development flight tested between mid-1976 and spring 1977, and this one-off prototype (4X-IAO) has flown about 75 hours. It featured a wet wing with 1,600 lb (726 kg) additional fuel, PT6A-36 engines, increased length and most distinctively dual Whitcomb winglets. The performance proved general equal to the standard Arava, but the maximum take off weight increased by 2,000 lb (907 kg)
In all 90 Arava's were build and delivered to Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Mexico, and Nicaragua, mostly used in the military role.
IAI-101 Ed Coates Collection IAI-201 Johan Visschedijk Collection IAI-202 Johan Visschedijk Collection
initial version
improved interior, better hot and high performance
military variant of IAI-101
redesigned version, prototype only
Specifications (IAI-201)
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High-wing twin-boom light STOL transport
Two 750 shp Pratt & Whitney of Canada PT6A-34 turboprop engines
68 ft 9 in (20.96 m)
42 ft 9 in (13.03 m)
17 ft 1 in (5.21 m)
470.2 sq.ft (43.68 sq.m)
8,300 lb (3,765 kg)
15,000 lb (6,803 kg)
203 mph (326 km/h) at 10,000 ft (3,050 m)
1,290 ft (393 m)/min
25,000 ft (7,620 m)
812 mls (1,306 km)