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Piper Tomahawk troubles

Hi everyone. I’ve been flying our newly purchased Tommy for about 15 hours now and, one by one, problems are arising. They might be small to begin with, but you never know, things can quickly escalate.

So, firstly, I installed a new landing light a couple weeks ago because the old was was dud. I took her up for a bit and then noticed that when the landing light was turned on and off, the oil pressure gauge would fluctuate. When the LL was activated, the gauge dropped, and vice versa. The oil pressure itself is very unlikely to fluctuate like that, so I reckon it’s the gauge that is being messed with. Perhaps the LL draws too much current? Anyone experienced this before?

Also, quite importantly, I want to say that on take-off roll or even taxi, she pulls like a b*tch to one side and I really have to work hard to keep her going roughly straight. Almost went off the runway during a touch and go the other day. Worries me. Especially since I need to land on small and narrow grass strips from time to time. Please share your thoughts on this!

People I have consulted can’t really figure out why these things are happening, so I thought I would try EuroGA as a last resort.
Thanks in advance for any help, really appreciate it!

PS – there are no GA maintenance outfits up here.

There may be no maintenance outfit in your vicinity (BTW, where are you based? The avatar photo looks like…Northern Scotland?), but still, you will have a shop that habitually does the annual inspections, right?. If they don’t have a clue, well then that might indeed be a problem…

Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany

Yeah, I’m based in Orkney. But you’re spot on, that pic is the North coast of Scotland! The nearest place that does annual inspections is in Dundee, about 2.5hr flight away. We’ve only had her for about 2 months so we haven’t done an annual yet.

SF

Hmmmm.
I think that if she’s puling to one side THAT much even while TAXIINg it can only be a problem of the main gear. I am sure you have checked the tire inflation, but have you visually checked the landing gear geometry? Is the landing gear completely symmetric if you look at it from the front? What do the tire look like?

Could you make a couple of photos of the landing gear from the front and of the wheels?

And, i would like to add: It is NORMAL that there’s ALWAYS SOMETHING wrong with a plane. Just be quick to always repair everything important. You will phases of peace and then you will have phases where something is broken all the time. On my Warrior there were little things wrong with the landing gear all the time. The struts would lose their pressure and have to be filled up (nitrogen, not air), brakes (depending on how you use them) need a lot of attention…
The front strut of the Piper is always either a little high or too low, i was fixing and adjusting that all the time …

That’s a good point, it could be the main gear – I hadn’t considered that… Funny thing is though, she doesn’t only pull to the left or right, it varies. So, if the main gear struts were bend for example, wouldn’t it only pull to one side and not the other? And yes, the tires seem fine to me. It’s hard to tell what’s important and needs repairing and what doesn’t always.

I shall get a few photos up for you!

Last Edited by Scenic_Flyer at 20 Dec 13:06

Could it be the (very occasional) strong Orkney crosswinds?

Last Edited by boscomantico at 20 Dec 13:44
Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany

Yes, next time she pulls to one side look at the windsock ;-)

Haha! Orkney is a paradise for people (like myself) who enjoy cross-wind landings, right enough! But surely during a 10kt taxi, she wont veer off into the wind.

I went and took some pictures but I can’t get them on here I’m afraid. But the struts and all look straight and symmetrical.

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