The Piper PA-38 112 Tomahawk is a 2-seat trainer aircraft. There are two variants - the Tomahawk, which was produced from 1978-1981; and the Tomahawk II, which was produced from 1981-1983, when production ceased. There is little difference between the two models, most were general design tweaks that are unnoticeable towards most eyes; I won't bore you with the details.

 

The PA-38 is of all-metal construction, and is recognisable due to its distinctive T-Tail. The aircraft is powered by an air-cooled Lycoming O-235 flat four engine that produces 112hp at 2600rpm and has a displacement of around 3.8 litres. It drives a fixed-pitch twin-bladed metal propeller.

 

The aircraft cruises at an airspeed of around 90-100 Knots depending on power setting. As with most piston-engined light aircraft cruising power is usually around 55-75% power. At Edinburgh Flying Club we use 2200RPM for cruise, equivilant to about 55-65% power; this gives us a decent 90 Knots cruise and a fuel burn of about 25 Litres per hour, which is pretty okay for training. The aircraft holds just over 100 litres of fuel in two wing tanks. The aircraft's maximum takeoff weight is around 760KG (1670Lbs).

 

The aircraft pictured is the Efinburgh Flying Club's Tomahawk, G-BNNU. It is a 1981 Tomahawk II model and has at present just over 8000 flying hours. This is the aircraft Smithy is learning in.

 

 

The aircraft is a good trainer becuase it has a certain degree of deliberate built-in instability. The PA-38 is a fairly twitchy aircraft to fly and demands proper and constant control inputs from its pilot to be flown correctly. I have heard many pilots moan about the Tomahawk's pitch trimmer system, in reality there is nothing wrong with it, it teaches the student how to trim properly. Perhaps it is laziness with many qualified pilots?

 

Taxiing is simple, the nosewheel steering is through the rudders and is very easy. The brakes seem good. Visibility from the cabin is excellent in all directions. Everything on the instrument panel is easy to use and falls nicely at hand; no dodgy streching is required. The cockpit is also comfortable.

 

Take-offs are fine, care is needed not to raise the nose too high by over-rotating however. Again it is a good trainer in this respect because you raelly have to nail the climb speed of 70 Knots to get a decent climb rate - if you don't the climb rate is pathetic, so it doesn't let you away with misuse. At 70 Knots the climb rate, depending on conditions, is usually about 700 feet/minute, which is decent for a low-powered aeroplane. Like most light aircraft the engine likes to make a fair racket and to be honest on high power settings it's a bit of a din - like being in a one-note disco. However, that said it's not as bad as other aircraft.

 

Cruising is fairly comfortable, there is a lot of stability in pitch but not a lot in roll, so you can't really take your hands off the yoke. As previously mentioned a setting of 2200RPM will give a cruise of about 90 Knots.

 

Stalling, meanwhile, is no real scare. It's by no means cotton-wool but it is convincing enough to demonstrate stalling to a new student correctly without being overly frightening.

 

Landings are easy if you nail the speed and attitude. I always have a tendency to flare too early and come down with a bump. Again if you fly correctly the PA-38 will be happy.

 

No major dislikes, only thing I would complain about is the rubbish throttle friction system which doesn't seem to work very well.