An amazing transformation of a Piper Tomahawk has taken place at the Marlborough Aero Club.
Over the past few years the aero club committee has found it difficult to decide which training aircraft should take the club into the future, in terms of training pilots up to and beyond PPL level using modern avionics equipment, while being affordable and cost effective at the same time.
Two Piper Tomahawk have been in the club’s fleet for 20 years or more, and in that time the type has proven itself a great training aircraft capable of taking the hard landings and rough handling that are part of training. But the aircraft were really starting to show their age.
The committee had to act, but wanted to keep flying the Tomahawks since they are so suitable, and replacement aircraft costing $200,000 or more were ruled out. They decided to turn this proven pilot–maker into a modern aircraft able to take students through to the CPL stage and onto the more complex aircraft of the digital era, easing the transition from student to career pilot.
Sounds Aero Maintenance were put in charge of the upgrade project. They already had a lot of relevant experience due to having installed some of the equipment required by the Tomahawks into the fleet of Cessna Caravans operated by Sounds Air.
The aircraft would also receive new paint schemes, seat coverings, carpets, sun visors — in fact the entire interior of each was to be upgraded in one way or another.
ZK–DMF was the first to be put through this programme, being the younger of the two aircraft at 18 years of age with 6500 hours on the airframe. It was unveiled to club members on June 10 and was straight–out amazing. Many club members could hardly believe what they saw. The aircraft looked brand new, and when a few switches were flicked on, the cockpit lit up and showed everyone what they had to look forward to.
Glass screens, tan–coloured instrument panel, and the new car smell are the first things you notice. Once I was settled into the left–hand seat, more became apparent the more I investigated the ‘new’ aircraft. I’d spent some time flying Tomahawks during and after my PPL training, and I can see students benefiting greatly. Although it has a glass AH and DI, as well as a great GPS system etc, they weren’t all that caught my eye.
Those who are familiar with the Tomahawk will know that the often ‘wobbly’ analogue fuel gauges can be difficult to read. Of course dipping the tanks is best practice to know how much fuel you have on board before a flight, but on long cross–countries confidence can sometimes dip when the pilot sees the fuel readings moving up and down on the mechanical gauges, making it difficult to estimate the fuel remaining. Those days are well and truly gone. Now the aircraft have digital readouts showing fuel capacity.
It used to be that with two people in the Tomahawk, the Ts and Ps gauges could be hard to read with the right–hand occupant’s knees often in the way. But these are now digital as well and up where the pilot can see them. The radio has been moved too, and everything is now well laid out and easy to use.
The GPS is one of the latest models, easy to read and program, and although it is only used as a navigation aid, being able to see groundspeed, wind direction etc at a glance is very helpful.
As training aircraft around New Zealand start to show their age and many clubs find it hard to justify purchasing expensive new machines, it just may well be that some will look to the proven aircraft they have on line and wonder if they can be improved.
With its Tomahawks the Marlborough Aero Club has shown the extraordinary results that can be achieved. Let’s run through the Tomahawk upgrade list:
Airframe
• Spar mod c/o several years ago, giving an airframe life of over 10,000 hours remaining.
• Aircraft repainted a couple of years ago, and still in very good condition.
• A brand new colour scheme applied, giving a fresh modern look.
• All fibreglass fairings repaired or replaced.
• Main Piper fuel filter (gascolator) replaced with new bayonet style unit (those who know what the old Piper gascolators are like to service and maintain will recognise the big safety and maintenance advantages!).
Interior
• Seat frames blasted, overhauled and repainted, with new foam and sewn–in sheepskin covers.
• New carpets.
• Newly covered glare shield.
• Control yokes reprofiled and leather sewn.
• Interior linings and instrument panels repainted.
• All new seat belts.
• Sun visors replaced.
Avionics
• Old A/H and DI replaced by the Aspen Avionics EFIS screen. (Similar to what has been fitted to the Sounds Air Caravan fleet). This clever piece of equipment has solid state sensors, incl. GPS, magnetic heading, OAT, pitch and roll attitudes. It can provide displays such as ground speed, TAS, wind direction/speed etc. It has enabled the removal of the entire vacuum system — no more expensive vacuum pumps, filters, A/Hs or DIs to maintain!
• Touch screen GPS.
• ICOM digital radio and intercom.
• All digital engine, battery and fuel quantity gauges.
• All new switches and circuit breakers.
Let’s finish with a few words from Craig Anderson, managing director of Sounds Aero Maintenance.
“I would just like to say that Mike Soper took this on virtually entirely as his project, and most of it was coordinated and carried out by him. I think the quality of the final product is a testament to his attention to detail and engineering skills, and he is certainly a great asset to have at Sounds Aero Maintenance.
“ZK–EQH is currently undergoing the upgrade. It is a slightly bigger project, as it requires a full paint strip and repaint.
“As you can see, it has been a very comprehensive upgrade and we are now able to offer this upgrade to operators of Tomahawks around New Zealand. From a training perspective, the advantages for future students are huge. Those going on to a commercial licence can learn on equipment very similar to what is used in the airlines, while all can benefit from modern avionics like a GPS as an additional safety aid to back up traditional methods of navigating.”
- Report and photographs by Gavin Conroy