The Tomahawk (nicknamed
Tommy for short) was the first all new two
seat trainer built by one of the USA's big
three GA manufacturers in almost three
decades when it was introduced.
The PA-38-112 Tomahawk
was designed as a relatively inexpensive to
acquire and operate two seat trainer to
tackle the firmly established definitive
basic trainer in the 1970s, the Cessna 150
and 152, and to take over the spot in
Piper's model range then occupied by two
seat variants of the PA-28 Cherokee series.
Design input for the
Tomahawk came from a questionnaire Piper
distributed randomly to 10,000 flight
instructors during the 1970s. With their
responses in mind, Piper developed the
PA-38. The resulting aircraft featured a
T-tail and NASA Whitcomb GA(W)-1 design low
set wing of constant chord and thickness
(also featured on the competing Beech
Skipper), a cabin wider than the Cherokee's
(and thus much wider than the Cessna
150/152's) with 360° vision and a Lycoming
O-235 powerplant. Many parts, such as the
main undercarriage wheels and elevators,
were interchangeable.
Piper announced the
development of the Tomahawk during late 1977
and first deliveries were made in early
1978. Despite an initial mixed reaction to
the new trainer from the flying public, the
Tomahawk was an instant sales success with
over 1000 built in the first year of
production alone. In service the Tomahawk
proved to be economical to operate, but the
aircraft was dogged by quality control
problems (some 19 Airworthiness Directives
were issued by the FAA in the PA-38's first
four years) and unpredictable stalling
characteristics, resulting in a number of
stall/spin accidents.
Flow strips were added to
the wing in September 1978 to improve the
much criticised stall characteristics, while
a number of other problems, including the
poor quality control, were addressed in the
improved Tomahawk II, which was introduced
for the 1981 model year. Enhancements
included improved sound proofing, windscreen
defrosting, door latching and nose wheel
design.
Piper ceased production of the Tomahawk
during 1983. 2497 Tomahawks were
built between 1978 and 1983.
The aircraft has for some
time been a subject of controversy. The wing
apparently was redesigned with fewer ribs after the original
had been certified, thus theoretically, the
airplane has never been properly legal.
There is a time life on the wing which can
make an elderly aircraft an unattractive
prospect. Difficulties have also been
experienced in spin recovery, when it has
been necessary for the occupant to move as
forward as possible to move the centre of
gravity forward in order to recover.
Nevertheless, it has been a good and rugged
trained for many years. Demanding more from
the trainee pilot than the Cessna 150;
many would argue that better pilots are made
that way.
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