Smithy, I HAVE flown in several - rather more than I wished I had.
You say Quote:
"Ah, but everyone dies in them, the tail falls off all the time, the trimmer's crap, they all fly like sheds"
My continued existence belies the first complaint. The behaviour of the tail close to the stall DOES alarm me. The other comments I would echo.
I'm not asking everyone to hate it. I fully accept that some people like it. However, I would be very wary of accusing the vast majority of those who dislike the PA38 of having never flown it, because that is calling them all liars.
Nor should you effectively demand that people have the same tastes as you in aircraft. Chacun a son gout, as our cousins on the continent say.
The Tomahawk MK1 is infamous for the tail falling off but the MK2 came out with a strengthened tail section and a lot of (if not all) the banging is from the trimmer spring hitting the sides.
I think the reason I enjoyed flying the PA38 whilst other people dislike them is that our PA38s are looked after well and unlike the neighbouring flying club's PA38s are not falling apart.
Anyway to each his/her own...