cowman
Final Approach
This is in a Piper Archer... second flight I've had this happen on. Both times doing maneuvers. First time was with CFI, I thought it was just something shifting in the cargo area, he thought it was in the tail but didn't seem concerned and we continued the lesson.
It's a single crisp.. thunky/poppy kind of noise. Could maybe be some interior plastic or maybe some sheet metal oil-canning.... I can't really tell which is what worries me. It didn't effect the flight any as far as I was able to tell.. no bumps, pitching/rolling/yawing.
Today I heard it again while practicing stalls... I was in slow flight 1500RPM, full flaps, probably about 60kts airspeed and at 3800'. Again, not knowing what that was I punched the throttle forward and aborted the stall. One thing I noticed... and maybe this is exactly what it was... when I backed my flaps out I only noticed 2 notches coming out where I'd have expected 3. Maybe I didn't have all 3 in.. maybe I backed out 2 when I should have done 1... but I'm wondering if maybe they weren't locked in all the way in the third position and the noise was the flaps "popping" out of that position and down to the next? I didn't notice any change in flight characteristics though and normally I feel a little sink when I let the flaps out.
Later on the ground I tried to re-produce this.. just barely having the flap handle in the 3rd position and letting go. Didn't sound at all alike but there wasn't any wind pushing on the flaps either so who knows.
Can't find a thing wrong with the airplane though. Does this sound familiar to anyone?
It's a single crisp.. thunky/poppy kind of noise. Could maybe be some interior plastic or maybe some sheet metal oil-canning.... I can't really tell which is what worries me. It didn't effect the flight any as far as I was able to tell.. no bumps, pitching/rolling/yawing.
Today I heard it again while practicing stalls... I was in slow flight 1500RPM, full flaps, probably about 60kts airspeed and at 3800'. Again, not knowing what that was I punched the throttle forward and aborted the stall. One thing I noticed... and maybe this is exactly what it was... when I backed my flaps out I only noticed 2 notches coming out where I'd have expected 3. Maybe I didn't have all 3 in.. maybe I backed out 2 when I should have done 1... but I'm wondering if maybe they weren't locked in all the way in the third position and the noise was the flaps "popping" out of that position and down to the next? I didn't notice any change in flight characteristics though and normally I feel a little sink when I let the flaps out.
Later on the ground I tried to re-produce this.. just barely having the flap handle in the 3rd position and letting go. Didn't sound at all alike but there wasn't any wind pushing on the flaps either so who knows.
Can't find a thing wrong with the airplane though. Does this sound familiar to anyone?
