Mike[/quote]
Well, I for one, have flown the PA46 a lot and would not say that. I don't see all the owners on MMOPA saying that either. So I'm not sure who you are talking to. You can continue to call it a weakness but that doesn't make it so. Maybe the C421 has more "weaknesses" which is why people quit buying them and Cessna quit making them.[/quote]

Greg, Cessna 421’s out sold the Duke 2 to 1. Cessna only stopped production in 1982 because of the cost for liability insurance. Piper and all other manufacturers did the same.

Not sure why because I say the PA46 has a weakness that you feel like you have to attack other aircraft. I am not saying there are planes without weaknesses or design issues. I am simply saying the PA46 has a issue with the design of the nose gear. I didn’t just come up with this on my own, hence this thread.

Fact is the nose gear on the PA46 has caused a lot of runway excursions. When I bought my Mirage it had already had two accidents on landing before I bought it. It was a 1990 model. My 1977 421 has had zero landing accidents. Just because the 421 has had other issues goes not take away from the PA46 nose gear issue and accidents


But I think you are saying that it’s OK because you and I did not crash our PA46. Nothing to see here, move along. Haha

Mike

From the Malibu thread:WoW! If 5% or 5 PSI off the NLG tire pressure is all it takes to dart off the runway upon landing, many King Airs would be out to pasture. I even have seen the tire pressure wrongly painted on the B350i gear doors, off by up to 15 PSI.

Yes blame it on tire pressure? Not the pilot or the manufacturer.

All planes have little quirks, they just require a pilot that pays attention.

I was being sarcastic based on previous comments about owners stepping out of planes due to "design flaws".

I'm not attacking. I'm comparing and merely pointing the method in which you use "design issues or flaws" can be applied to any plane. The PA46 design has been around since the mid-eighties. I'm sure any design flaws would have been addressed. Notice how you state that by me pointing out "design flaws" in your aircraft you feel I am attacking that plane, yet you can't see the irony in how you attack by calling characteristics of a particular plane flawed?

Completely, 100%, agree with this.

OK Greg, you win. PA46 nose gear is fine. LOL

Sorry I shared why experience and said anything.

I will get back to flying my plane with poorly designed fuel management system.

Mike

Haha. You do that Michael. And I'll just keep on lying like all us PA46 drivers.

Yes. Ground handling is challenging but not unreasonable on the pa-46 350P I fly (mirage). I am willing to guess that some of these landing accidents are related to the rudder trim. The rest are related to low tire pressure & hard nose gear landings. This nose gear has to rotate 90 degrees to fit under the engine when in the up position. It just isn’t as strong as a bonanza nose gear. That said, it’s not hard to land the plane and actually once you get the speed right, you can grease it on, over and over.

Val

Haha. You do that Michael. And I'll just keep on lying like all us PA46 drivers.

Why is it most of fleet does not have a problem.

If they are all manufactured the same then it must be poor pilot technique?

I think most PA46 pilots are trained well to compensate for the weakness in the nose gear. I got amazing training form a PA46 expert when I got my initial training in the Mirage.

I don’t think all new PA46 pilots are fortunate enough to have the best training.

The other issue is the gear needs to be setup and maintained correctly. I was again fortunate to have Malibu Aerospace do the pre buy and annual on my Mirage. They got it dialed in and made sure I understood the importance of proper tire inflation.

My point is if you take a poorly trained or poorly setup nose gear you are likely to have a problem. Even with my experience I still had some eye opening landings. I had one landing in Orange County that I followed the same procedure I had 100x and it just took off to the left for no reason. I caught it but it was sketch. Tire pressure was fine and it didn’t do that again so hard to know what happened.


Have never had any other aircraft do something that unexpected, ever.

Mike

You said earlier you had no problems in your Malibu. Were you lying? LOL

Greg

I had no problem’s like the investigation is looking at. You also said you had no problems.

It’s OK if you are not being honest with yourself. Denial is a powerful and normal thing. So maybe I should have said Denial instead of lying. That might have been less offensive to you.

There is in fact an issue with the nose gear on PA46. It’s been well documented and discussed here and on MMOPA forum. But you may be right. It’s all a
Conspiracy.


Mike