Tomahawk/ Skipper

Recently, posted:

When I win the lottery I would buy a Skipper and put an IO-320 or
360 engine on the front with a CS prop.

You need to raise your sights a bit, Jim - MY "lottery plane" is a
TBM700C2, but then again, to each his own... : )

Having learned in a Traumahawk 10 years ago, I can personally attest
to the low power and VERY study undercarraige, as there were quite a
few carrier landings those planes survived courtesy of yours truly. It
wasn't until after I finished the PPL that I started reading about the
stall/spin accidents in the PA-38. Yikes.

I also trained in a Tomahawk, and read the various reports on stall/spin
accidents. However, I concluded that many of those reports were of
questionable veracity due to a lack of how the lost planes were loaded
(W&B information) and some bizarre conclusions. I can't imagine how one
could flat spin a Tomahawk, something repeated frequently in the reports,
without putting a significant amount of weight in the storage area. The
worst thing I can say about a Tomahawk is that you have to fly the thing
100% of the time. For that reason, it makes a great trainer. ;-)

The Skipper seemed like an upscale comfy version of the Tomahawk to me.

Neil

I've given Private Pilot training to a couple students in Tomahawks. My
understanding is that they had some strange stall behavior at one time
but since the FAA's mandated stall strips were added they have had no
problems. I found it to be a very nice plane to stall. It does spin
easier by design. CFIs were complaining that it was too hard to give
spin training in the Cessna 150 so better spin training became a
requrement of the Tomahawk. Nowadays people don't tend to do spin
training for privates so no one cares. If you read the Tomahawk web
pages you'll see that there appear to be more reasonable answers to the
few spin accidents that have hurt the Tomahawk reputation. The main
benefit of the T over the Skipper is better support from a larger fleet.

The
worst thing I can say about a Tomahawk is that you have to fly the thing
100% of the time. For that reason, it makes a great trainer. ;-)

When I fly, I always hand fly. I've played with the autopilot a few
times, for a few minutes, but I feel like a passenger if my hand is not
on the yoke. Maybe it's because I trained in a Tomahawk. I liked the
plane - peppy, good viz; when I transitioned to a 152 it was a dog by
comparison.

It always rattled the tail in stalls, and my instructor would cast a
worried look back there. What did I know about tails - I was just a
student.

Jose
--
He who laughs, lasts.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

It always rattled the tail in stalls, and my instructor would cast a
worried look back there. What did I know about tails - I was just a
student.

Ha! I'd forgotten about that.

The old Cherokee 140 I trained in also made all sorts of weird noises in the
stall, seemingly coming from the aft fuselage section.

Only later did I realize it was probably *always* making that noise (or
worse), and we just couldn't hear it until the power was off.

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"