Grumman Tiger purchase

[JetBroker]

Dear All,
I'm thinking of buying a Grumman Tiger, are there any instructors out there who are available for hire?

[RatherBeFlying]

It's a lovely airplane, but many have collapsed the nosewheel porpoising on landing. The gross weight landing speed is too fast when you have flown a long distance. And there are accidents on climbout on hot days, perhaps going around after running out of runway on landing with flaps down. Full tanks and 3 large people can put you over gross. Go arounds at elevated density altitude with mixture full rich can be sporty:uhoh:

[rocco16]

Never had any problems when I used to instruct on them. The extra performance over the Cheetah is worth having and inexperience pilots quickly get used to performance difference. Nosewheel is only an issue with incorrect technique; the mains are strong using chunky fibreglass beams IIRC. Like most aircraft, correct speeds and pitch attitude is the key. IF you get anywhere near porpoising GO AROUND and do it again properly the next time.

Make sure you check for bonding issues, fuel caps can let water in. There were some issues with flap electrics on some. Stop passengers from placing too much load on front seat backs or panel combing. The screen hoop provides a good handhold.

Nice vis and you can taxi (and fly) with hood partially open.

[Pace]

Like most aircraft, correct speeds and pitch attitude is the key. IF you get anywhere near porpoising GO AROUND and do it again properly the next time.

Totally agree. There are many aircraft which have this tendency. Its piloting skills which need addressing not the aircraft.

The Tiger is an excellent aircraft which with a fixed prop and gear has a good turn of speed, nice handling, economy, good views out and as stated a canopy which allows you to step in and have parially open on the ground or in the air.

Pace

[rgsaero]

Great aeroplane -I've had a share in mine for 17 years and 1000 hours!

Depends where you are in London but there are instructors with AA5 experience at many airfields around the city; look for long-serving and ex Cabair people. They used them for many years. If you are near Elstree there are specialists there. PM me if you need more.

And get it looked at before purchase by someone who KNOWS the type, not just an engineer who has seen one a couple of times. There's a man who knows the history of virtually every AA5 in the country who can help steer you. Again - PM me
rgsaero

[Rod1]

It is one of the few aircraft specificity named by the CAA as being unsuitable for using Mogas. I ran one for several years and bits were relativity expensive and it need more of them than other aircraft I have owned. It is probably one of the best aircraft in its class if you plan to leave it outside, as it is well corrosion proofed and the bonded construction (provided you avoid the dreaded purple passion) is less inclined to leak than a conventional riveted construction.

It is a much more modern design than the PA28 or C172, and has better ergonomics and handling. It is not a big load carrier, being only a 3 seater with bags and 4 hours fuel. If you have not got the enlarged oil cooler fitted, get one. Without it it will overheat in hot weather, with it you will still struggle to lean it off without the temps getting very near the red (I am taking south of France temps). Another important item is the split cowl. This allows the cowl to be removed without the prop coming off which is well worth getting done as it saves a lot of labour cost. Aircraft built around 1976? used a different glue nicknamed purple passion which is useless and leads to de-bonding and huge bills. Later aircraft 1978 on, have a moded and strengthened node leg arrangement. Aircraft built in the 1990's and later (small numbers) were based on the 1978 version.

Hope that helps,

Rod1

[18greens]

I loved flying the tiger. It was our hot ship at Biggin. Out performed anything else we had in the fleet, the Pa28s, and the cheetahs by a long shot.

It had that great bulldog style canopy (that you could open in flight) and you could look cool taxiing back with the canopy open, elbow on the windowsill.

The only quirk I recall was the castoring nosewheel. You couldn't push it backwards and it was fun in a xwind but it cornered on a sixpence. And it was jolly slippy too, wouldn't slow down when you wanted it to.

How much training do you need?

[kui2324]

The Tiger is a great aircraft. My first aircraft was a share in one. IIRC the five of us in the group mostly took one or two sessions with our sixth group member, who was also CFI of the local flying school at the time, to be checked out in it.

And subsequently I had many a happy hour in ours including visiting Derby (301m grass) in it on occasion.

Nail your speed and it's a great aircraft. We never had any problems with it - getting parts doesn't seem to have been too much of a problem. We had more problems replacing the engine but that was more a Lycoming issue.

As already mentioned make sure you get an engineer who has experience to do the pre-purchase survey. Later years will potentially be bonding problem free after 1977 I think - ours was 1979.

Good luck with your purchase! Find a good one and I don't think you will regret it.

[A and C]

I have only flown the AA-5 once and was impressed enough to consider buying one but was more impressed by the DR400 and have had two of those.

The AA-5 has a lot of minor problems that could become expensive, most of these have "fixes" and as long as these have been done the aircraft should be largely trouble free. This leads me to echo the advice that you should get any potential buy inspected by an engineer who has a lot of time maintaning these aircraft.

[Heliplane]

I'd highly recommend David Harrisberg from Cabair at Elstree for Tiger instruction.

Cabair maintenance, also at Elstree, know their way around Tigers very well indeed. They're not cheap but then again you're not necessarily looking for "cheap" where maintenance is concerned!

Excellent aeroplane but I would echo the advice of others here - you should be very careful about landing properly and never hesitate to go around immediately if things are not set up properly or you porpoise.

One little Tiger thing is to minimise the use of the starter motor. It's a powerful motor and if overused, you can very easily knock teeth off the starter ring gear, which is expensive to replace.