Having seen off the woodpeckers from from my future mainspar I will comment further on the PA38.
I seem to remember that the Aileron rigging required the belcrank in each wing to be set with a special tool ( a bit of metal with a slot cut in it) and the neutral being set with a bit of wood with a spacer ( usually a screw ) set in to it, only with all the tools can you be assured of getting the correct differential movement of the ailerons.
One type of damage the PA38 was particularly seceptable to was compression damage to the rear spar carry through frame, move the seats full forward and remove the screws from the aft of the trim in the floor. Any compression damage will be apparent.
A symmetry check may also be worth doing, you need a steel cable and spring balance and check that the same point on the wing tips is the same distance from a few points on the fuselage, the spring balance assuring that you always have the same load on the steel cable.
LEGAL NOTICE
Any advice is given in good faith and should only be carried out by a grown up who is fully qualified and has a note from his mum allowing him/ her to do so.
Your Tommy looked good at Inverness today Have you got your problems sorted – or on the way to being sorted?
Haha thanks! Yeah, for a 36 y/o she’s great! Well, we’re still deciding where to go for annual and ARC but in the meantime all these little problems persist… :( They don’t stop her from flying thankfully, though – they’re just a nuisance.
We accept some tattyness with our 1961/1964 rebuilt Jodel for safe,cheap,flying. A Cirrus is probably a cheap alternative to an actively used, but kept in airshow-award-winning condition, Pa38.
