Piper Arrow PA28R-180 versus -200

k9medic said:
Got a text from a friend "hey, the tail of your rental plane is falling off..." 30 seconds later a different friend texted "I think your plane is falling apart!"

From the renters, they got a nose wheel shimmy on their first landing. Checked it out, and flew 1.5 hours back to home airport and reported another nose wheel shimmy upon landing. Photos showed horizontal stabilator hind sheared 12 rivets and was canted about 25 degrees. Anticollision light and top dorsal was broken off and hanging by a wire.

All things point to a hard landing but we can't really determine. Insurance company totalled it.
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Need more excitement maybe go into the rental boat market also.
 
Pr
kayoh190 said:
Granted I've only ever flown clapped out 172RGs (do they come any other way?), but 135 true is impressive!
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Pretty much unheard of actually for that airframe. Pic or didn’t happen territory. Maybe 125 ktas on a good day.
 
k9medic said:
Got a text from a friend "hey, the tail of your rental plane is falling off..." 30 seconds later a different friend texted "I think your plane is falling apart!"

From the renters, they got a nose wheel shimmy on their first landing. Checked it out, and flew 1.5 hours back to home airport and reported another nose wheel shimmy upon landing. Photos showed horizontal stabilator hind sheared 12 rivets and was canted about 25 degrees. Anticollision light and top dorsal was broken off and hanging by a wire.

All things point to a hard landing but we can't really determine. Insurance company totalled it.
Click to expand...

So I take it you filed a NTSB 830 report?

830.5 Immediate notification.​

The operator of any civil aircraft, or any public aircraft not operated by the Armed Forces or an intelligence agency of the United States, or any foreign aircraft shall immediately, and by the most expeditious means available, notify the nearest National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) office,[<a href="#830.5-footnote-1" data-turbo="false">1</a>] when:

(a) An aircraft accident or any of the following listed serious incidents occur:

(1) Flight control system malfunction or failure;

“Photos showed horizontal stabilator hind sheared 12 rivets and was canted about 25 degrees. Anticollision light and top dorsal was broken off and hanging by a wire.”

Horizontal stabilator is a flight control and with multiple sheared rivets and canted over 25 degrees sure meets (a)(1).
 
My first plane was a Turbo Arrow III. At the first annual (a post-buy, really) it was discovered that not only was plane involved in an unreported partial gear up landing, but the damage at the rear was not correctly repaired and the vertical stabilizer was imminently ready to fall off at any moment. Ten thousand dollars later, I had an airworthy plane. That still consumed more oil than a B17 radial engine. All four of them. The final straw was the turbocharger failure, which started as I departed Boonville. I started hearing some spinny thing eating itself, figuring it was the turbocharger and wondered if I'd have enough power left after it failed to maintain level flight. Probably not, and all that was under me was big redwoods for the next umpteen miles. After I landed, just parked it at the A&P. He told me that the turbocharger was within a few seconds of seizing completely. TSIO 360 engine - two turbochargers to one overhaul was apparently the norm. It was nose heavy and hard to flare with the back seats unoccupied. I liked the range, but that was about it.

Then I bought in to an Arrow II. It was a bit clapped out, but the constant fear of losing an engine quickly abated, and the handling was light and agile compared to the III. Flaring properly was never a problem. I was pretty happy with it for the time I had it. I've never flown a 180 but 200 hp was 'adequate' in the plane. I wouldn't want less.

Next plane? Probably steam powered with a coal fired boiler.
 
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