Yes, I forgot about that!
I had that on the Cirrus. Not only would the brakes overheat, but both the discs (rotors for our American friende :-)) and the bads were ruined in NO TIME. I was still lucky because it was the same left and right …
Please read Posting Tips. Everything you always wanted to know about life but were too shy to ask can be found in there 
For imgur.com:
(also in Posting Tips, where imgur.com is mentioned)
Re the instrument fluctuations: I had that with my old landing light occasionally. Got rid of it and put an LED light. Puts much less charge on the system and is much brighter. Never looked back. It will however need an adjustment of the pitch in which it is installed, LED landing lights need to be tilted down a bit in order to illumniate the ground properly.
Re the control problems: I don’t know the Tomahawk but I had the same with the Cessna once. Turned out to be a brake problem, where the actuator needed adjusting (the brakes would start braking at a much lower pedal movement than correct). Had it checked and happened never again.
You might also want to check the nose wheel steering.
As Alexis said very correctly, don’t worry too much, there is always something to worry about with airplanes. With time, you will start to know these things and how to deal with them.
Would love to visit the Orkneys once.
Kirkwall is just up the road for me…. Orkney has almost as many airfields as the rest of Scotland!….and I have a soft spot for the traumahawk having learned to fly in them…..I remember the vicious wing drops on stalling though! Was just reading about a Tomahawk accident in the CAA publication Clued Up….failed to recover from 4500ft
Your oil gauge fluctuations indicate an electrical problem – it could be a bad connection somewhere. If your electrical oil pressure and temp BOTH go HIGH don’t take drastic action. Try the effect of power in climb and low power in dive – temp should go down in the dive. I had this over the west coast, and returned to Inverness. It was a poor connection on the O200 starter, which appeared to be part of the earth. Does your nosewheel wobble or show vibration at speed?
Highland Aviation at Inverness now have an engineer, and operate PA38s – you could ask them. You should find an engineer to help on Orkney. You don’t need an organisation capable of an annual for these problems.
PS I like the Pa38, and haven’t found one with vicious wing-drop on stall if you keep the ball in the middle.
I think the “vicious” wing drop is one of the BEST features. This characteristic was designed into the plane by purpose to make it better trainer than the typical C-150, 152, 172 or Warrior – which are all TOO DOCILE. Actually in a WARRIOR it’s really hard to show a beginner what a stall IS, because the damn thing will never do anything that gives the student some adrenaline :-)
I also never liked the idea that people go from docile trainers directly to high performance planes – sometimes straight to a Lancair, SR22, Mooney or even something that bites more. Not ALL pilots are really interested in these things, many use airplanes like they use their cars and they NEVER open the hood or try to understand more. The problem is that a crosscontrolled stall turning final is deadly most times in a Lancair, and it can be deadly in a Cirrus too, no matter if the plane has safe aerodynamics, which it does have. But its a hp plane – and there’s a natural limit.
A pilot who has learned to fly in a PA-38 KNOWS what a real stall is. And I like that.
yes…ball in the middle….so that’s how you do it…. 
one good thing about the Tomahawk is that it does teach the importance of coordinated low speed flight….I believe they added stall strips on later models to tame the sudden wing drop tendency….where I learned one had them and one did not…
Actually that concept was not successful, because it scared many flight instructors too. … :-)
I think the “vicious” wing drop is one of the BEST features. This characteristic was designed into the plane by purpose to make it better trainer than the typical C-150, 152, 172 or Warrior – which are all TOO DOCILE.
The conforming airplane that the FAA certified is not what was eventually built by production. The production airplane has less structure than the conforming example and lacks torsional rigidity. Have you ever looked at the T tail while it is near the stall. If that doesn’t scare you, nothing will. I have logged 0.6 of an hour in a Tomahawk and have no intention of increasing my time in one. In business, there is the saying “If you can’t fix it, feature it.”
This is interesting – confirming NCYankee’s post above.
Is that why the PA38 has a defined airframe life?
The TCDS has various life limits, from 3000hrs to 11000hrs according to which mods were applied.
When I was training in them, I found one could avoid the wing drop in the stall (at least until the last moment) by very active use of the rudder. The ailerons were ineffective in or anywhere near stall.
