Column Title: Close Calls by Anthony Nalli

Article Title: Buyer Beware

Published February 2010

Close Calls is a column detailing the “close call” experiences of fellow pilots. I invite you to contact me at CloseCalls@TheAviators.TV or CloseCalls@PCAS.ca to anonymously share your stories. The experience shared and lessons learned will be of benefit to all readers. Confidentiality will be assured and I will not use your name or aircraft ident without your permission. If your submission is used in Close Calls you’ll receive the official hat of the upcoming TV series The Aviators.

Our pilot was in the process of purchasing a Piper PA-22, a classic cloth covered aircraft. After much research, he found one that had been recently re-covered so he contacted the seller for more information. Our pilot thought the seller seemed “like a legit guy with some knowledge in aviation.“ While in town on business a couple of weeks later, our pilot thought he’d stop in to check out the Tripacer in person.

At first glance it seemed very nice with only some minor signs of age, but nothing that turned him off. A look-over from his mechanic revealed a frayed trim cable. On the condition the cable would be repaired our pilot made on offer and proudly purchased the Tripacer.

On delivery day a short time later, our pilot completed his walk around, filed his flight plan, and departed for home in his new-to-him PA-22. He climbed out at an impressive 1100 feet per minute and leveled off at a relatively low 2800 feet ASL (1000 feet above ground) due to clouds.

About 15 minutes into the flight, cruising at 120, our pilot suddenly heard a loud “Bang!” and then another! A third “bang” was followed by the sound of “lots of wind” and was accompanied by a slight nose down, left bank attitude.

Our pilot’s first thought was “Oh no, I forgot to lock down the cowlings” but he looked over the windshield and saw nothing despite now descending more significantly. He trimmed nose up which made little difference as now he was “dropping like a rock!” Out of options, our pilot declares an emergency and plans a forced landing. He spotted a road no wider than his landing gear and managed to land hard, bouncing twice, but safely all in all. He shut down the engine and called flight services to update them as well as the Transportation Safety Board who had now been advised of the incident.

Our pilot examined the Tripacer to see if he could find anything wrong. He noticed that the passenger door behind him had come open and deduced that this was the source of the trouble. After having called his mechanic, the TSB, and the police and checking everything on the aircraft he could think of, our pilot deemed that the plane was intact.

Intent on resuming his journey home, our pilot started down the narrow road now serving as his runway. At 60 MPH the Tripacer bounced into the air but at just 500 feet above ground our pilot began to notice a vibration as the PA-22 began to pitch up and down on its own! Admits our pilot, “I realized I had made big mistake taking off again and that there was something seriously wrong with this bird.”

Looking around, he noticed that the horizontal stabilizer was moving up and down quite a bit. As he started planning for his second forced approach of the day, the aircraft suddenly pitched downwards out of control. He pulled the controls back and trimmed full nose up as he located the field he would land on this time. The uneven but soft and muddy ground took hold of the Piper as it slammed into the ground stopping in no more than 100 feet.

With the engine off our pilot froze, thankful to be alive. Surprisingly, the rugged little aircraft was no worse for wear. Our pilot contacted a friend advising him that he’d gone down. Not believing at first, the friend soon realized our pilot was serious and immediately began the hour-long drive to retrieve him. Our pilot decided that this time the plane wasn’t going anywhere until thoroughly examined by his mechanic, who had already begin his better than 3-hour journey to the scene. Of course, flight services and the TSB were also updated on the situation.

A while later our pilot, his friend, and his mechanic are all checking out what seemed to be most obvious, the recent repair of the trim cable. They all were critical of the repair and proceeded to improve upon it in the field, but the imperfect repair didn’t in and of itself seem to be enough to cause such a drastic loss of control.

Still puzzled, they all began a very detailed walk around. Our pilot was looking at the nose plane above the windshield when he called out, “Look!” It was then that they discovered a crack in the fabric above the windshield that was found to expand and disturb airflow in flight.

An Airworthiness Directive (AD) had been issued to address the noise and control problems experienced by our pilot. In many of the previous cases, the pilots had unfortunately not fared as well. The previous owner had explained that when the fabric-covered Tripacer was re-covered, it had been in accordance with all relevant ADs. However, having used an aftermarket covering the AD wasn’t applicable and therefore wasn’t followed, but installing the covering in accordance with the AD nevertheless was understood to be a best practice.

The aircraft was transported by truck to its new home where a comprehensive inspection was carried out during which a number of comparatively minor snags were revealed that were previously unknown. Our pilot is grateful to all that provided assistance during that all-too-memorable journey and can not overstate the value of a good and through pre-purchase inspection. There might also have been some other lessons learned that day too!

Fly safe(r).

Anthony Nalli is the Executive Producer of the new television series The Aviators and a staunch collision avoidance advocate operating the site PCAS.ca which is dedicated to the implementation of affordable collision avoidance devices in General Aviation with a mission to eliminate mid-air collisions and dramatically reduce close calls. Anthony can be reached at CloseCalls@TheAviators.TV or CloseCalls@PCAS.ca, 1-888-PCAS-123, and www.PCAS.ca

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