Unsafe Aircraft?

Posted by MudApprehensive8834@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 10 comments

Hey guys! First time poster and student pilot here. Long story short, I was super close to finishing my PPL (55 Hrs) but headed off to college so I'm doing the finishing touches to get checkride ready at a small 61 school near me. So far, the quality of school has been fantastic, great instructor, good course materiel, professional all around. Recently, however, the school purchased a brand new 140 from Texas. I flew it just today and was really not impressed. To start, I sumped the fuel and got sediment from both tank sumps. We cleared the sediment and went on our way in the lesson, where I discovered that the controls were absurdly stiff. I had to muscle my way through steep turns to an extreme amount. I tried a few different things to alleviate the pressure, but it felt absolutely brutal. Should I bring this up to an instructor? I'm transitioning from a 172-M to this 140, so I'm not super familiar with low wing aircraft or Pipers in general. Is this stiffness normal? Should I try to find a new school aircraft to schedule in? Thanks for reading! Tl:Dr got a full arm workout trying steep turns and I don't really like it.

10 Comments

[-]

iwonder___@reddit

You need to have a mechanic look at this. Not a group of pilots. You may have kinked cables, frozen pulleys, bearings , etc. This isnt a "fly it to troubleshoot situation" -AP IA Pilot

Professional_Read413@reddit

I trained in lots of different pa28s. Some had super light controls, and some had very stiff ones. It was usually because the control yoke tube needed to be lubed. I would definitely mention it. It is a safety of flight issue. I flew one that had a sticky elevator and it made the flare very difficult to finesse when landing.

MudApprehensive8834@reddit (OP)

Appreciate it! Wasn't sure if it was just standard or if it was worth bringing up.

jabier1@reddit

Hey, I did my PPL in the Archer and generally no, the stiffness is not normal. Its possible that the yoke simply needs some grease.

bhalter80@reddit

Graphite lubricant actually but it's also possible one of the control cables is over tight or the pilly is seized

I'm using "grease" colloquially :).

That's the plan next time I go up! Thanks for the help!

No_Mastodon8524@reddit

It’s a 140. They are dogs. I’ve never flown one that is stiff though. They are semi light on the controls usually. Like the other poster said get some grease on the chain and see how it does. The sumo thing happens, that’s why you do it, good catch

grumpycfi@reddit

As a soon to be PIC how do you think you should handle the situation if you think something isn't safe? >!Talk to the instructor. They should be cool about it, if they aren't, bad instructor and/or bad school.!<

rFlyingTower@reddit

This is a copy of the original post body for posterity: --- Hey guys! First time poster and student pilot here. Long story short, I was super close to finishing my PPL (55 Hrs) but headed off to college so I'm doing the finishing touches to get checkride ready at a small 61 school near me. So far, the quality of school has been fantastic, great instructor, good course materiel, professional all around. Recently, however, the school purchased a brand new 140 from Texas. I flew it just today and was really not impressed. To start, I sumped the fuel and got sediment from both tank sumps. We cleared the sediment and went on our way in the lesson, where I discovered that the controls were absurdly stiff. I had to muscle my way through steep turns to an extreme amount. I tried a few different things to alleviate the pressure, but it felt absolutely brutal. Should I bring this up to an instructor? I'm transitioning from a 172-M to this 140, so I'm not super familiar with low wing aircraft or Pipers in general. Is this stiffness normal? Should I try to find a new school aircraft to schedule in? Thanks for reading! Tl:Dr got a full arm workout trying steep turns and I don't really like it. --- Please downvote this comment until it collapses. Questions about this comment? [Please see this wiki post before contacting the mods](https://www.reddit.com/r/flying/wiki/index/rflyingtower/). --- I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. If you have any questions, please [contact the mods of this subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/flying).

Reply to Post

10 Comments