"Larry Dighera" wrote in message
...


The article below is printed (in its entirety) in the current issue of
AOPA Pilot magazine. In it, Rod Machado mentions the controls being
"mechanically sticky."

It has been my experience, that the bar attached to the control yoke
which goes through a bushing in the control panel often binds as it
moves fore and aft through its entire range of travel as it might
during a landing flare. This stickiness can cause an unexpected
balloon leading to pilot induced oscillations.

As part of the Piper PA28 annual inspection lubricating the bar
attached to the control yoke with engine oils is mentioned. I have
found that this lubrication is often overlooked, and most rental
aircraft suffer to a greater of lesser extent from sticky elevator
controls as a result.

Has anyone else experienced this?


Me too. I have used the two handed flare for as long as I can remember and
had a number of arguments with instructors about it.

My other problem is that my body proportions are a bit out.

When I buy a suit, the pants need to be just a tad short of "regular", but
the jacket has to be "long". This means my legs need the seat forward for
the feet on the pedals but my arms need the seat back as I have plenty of
reach.

So what we do is for take off and landing the seat is forward and for
cruising its well back.

When it comes to landing, I just don't get the right leverage from my left
arm alone for the round out and flare so I use a combination of both hands
and a bit of up trim just to lighten the load and make the it more
comfortable.

This is especially important with a sticky Pa 28 column and there are not
many Pa28s which don't get a bit sticky at some time or other.

cb