Planes

We operate a modern well maintained fleet of 2 seat training aircraft and a 4 seat aircraft more suited to touring and advanced training.

Piper PA-38 Tomahawk

The PA-38 Tomahawk is Piper's two seat trainer. Before designing the aircraft, Piper surveyed flight instructors for their input into the design making it one of the few civilian aircraft to be designed specifically for the task.

Instructors asked for more space and better visibility over the Cessna range which the designers managed to achieve using a wider cabin, low wing and bigger windows. Instructors also requested a more spinnable aircraft for training purposes, since other two seat trainers such as the Cessna150 or Cessna 152 were designed to spontaneously fly out of a spin.

The Tomahawk's airfoil addresses this by requiring specific pilot input in recovering from spins, thus allowing pilots to develop proficiency in dealing with spin recovery.

Another characteristic of the Piper Tomahawk that favours its suitability as a primary trainer is that the flight control forces mimic those of a much heavier aircraft. As a result, student pilots that learn to fly in a Tomahawk transition much more successfully to larger aircraft, hence the popularity of the Tomahawk with U.S. Air Force flying clubs.

According to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Air Safety Foundation, which published a safety report on the Piper Tomahawk, the Piper Tomahawk has a one-third lower accident rate per flying hour than the comparable Cessna 150/152 series of two seat benchmark trainers

PA-28 Cherokee 180

The PA-28 Cherokee is a family of light aircraft designed for flight training, air taxi and personal use and were built by Piper Aircraft.

All members of the PA-28 family are all-metal, unpressurized, four seat, single-engine piston-powered aeroplanes with low-mounted wings and tricycle landing gear. All PA-28 aircraft have a single door on the co-pilot side, which is entered by stepping onto the wing. Piper created variations within the Cherokee family by installing engines ranging from 140 to 300 hp. However most use the 151 hp or 161hp engines. Our Cherokee is fitted with a 180 hp powerplant.

This extra power makes it practical to fly with all four seats filled (depending on passenger weight and fuel loading) making it a true 4 seat touring aircraft as well as a very stable platform for advanced training.

Norwich School of Flying