PA-32 Cherokee Six/Lance/Saratoga/6X
Flight Crew Commercial; Maintenance Airframe; Maintenance Powerplant
Situational Awareness; Confusion
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical
Flight Crew Rejected Takeoff; General Flight Cancelled / Delayed; General Maintenance Action
Human Factors; Incorrect / Not Installed / Unavailable Part; Manuals
A Piper Cherokee 6 PA-32-300 was on the takeoff roll when there was a sudden loss of power and the pilot had to abort the takeoff. The following is a detailed description of what was found when the top cowling was removed. Per the Piper PA-32 Cherokee Parts Catalog; Item 17 the Valve Box Assembly for the induction air. This valve controls the alternate air source. Next Item 29 Hose duct flexible and Item 30 is an Elbow Assembly. When I pulled the top cowling I spotted that the flexible duct collapsed like a cheap paper soda straw in a bend just downstream of the alternate air valve thus cutting air flow to the engine. The Elbow Assembly appears to have not been installed thus causing a tighter then normal bend in the flexible air duct. The installed flexible duct runs all the way from the alternate air valve to the fuel injector servo. Checking the aircraft logbooks; I believe we have some sort of improper repair with non-piper certified parts due to an incident several years ago. The previous owner ran off the runway and collapsed the nose gear. The reason this was not caught in annual inspections is that unless you are an expert in this particular aircraft model; the problem would be difficult to detect. The problem has gone unnoticed at annual inspections because the installation looked correct. The aircraft is grounded until it is properly repaired with the correct Piper parts.
A PA32-300 pilot rejected takeoff due to a loss of power. A Maintenance Technician later identified that the induction air flexible duct had collapsed at a bend in the duct.