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 that 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 Tri-Pacer 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 that the cable would be repaired, our pilot made an offer and proudly purchased the Tri-Pacer.

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 1,100 fpm and leveled off at a relatively low 2,800 feet above sea level (1,000 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,” which 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 declared an emergency and planned 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 National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), who had now been advised of the incident.

Our pilot examined the Tri-Pacer 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 NTSB, 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 Tri-Pacer 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 a 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 downward 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 started his better-than-three-hour journey to the scene. Of course, flight services and the NTSB were also updated on the situation.

A while later, our pilot, his friend, and his mechanic were 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 Tri-Pacer was re-covered, it had been in accordance with all relevant ADs. However, because an aftermarket covering was used, 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; a number of comparatively minor snags were revealed that were previously unknown. Our pilot is grateful to all who provided assistance during that all-too-memorable journey and cannot overstate the value of a good and thorough pre-purchase inspection. There might also have been some other lessons learned that day, too!

Fly safe(r).

From the September 2010 issue of Pipers