Removal of Overwing Entry Step - PA 28, 32, 34, 44 Series

throttlejockey

Hi All,

Has anyone removed the entry step from their aircraft? Did you do it as a minor alteration (logbook entry) or ??

Thanks,

TJ

Scott Sherer

Hi, Having owned 6 Pipers, I've removed the steps from time to time. I don't know if that contributed a knot or two. I never logged it....

throttlejockey

Scott,

I saw your article on step repair. I decided to go with permanent removal. Why?

1) The Step is considered an optional item on the aircraft's original equipment list. We signed it off in the logbook as "Removed Step from aircraft i/a/w 43.13..... Removed from equipment list in Pilots Operating Handbook........"

2) When we removed the step, we found extensive corrosion underneath the step attach point that was all the way through the skin. If left unchecked, might have started to eat away at the structure. Remember, the step is steel and the skin is aluminum....a ripe location for this to happen. This is what the step looked like before removal:

3) It was easiest and fastest for us to replace the entire skin instead of doing a patch. Piper pre-drills that skin panel with several pilot holes as well as the sump drain holes. Removal and Replacement allowed us to clean the entire area of corrosion and start fresh.

4) After this we decided to not put the step back on, to avoid the problem in the future and as a aerodynamic clean up. During break-in and rig-check of the Turbo Chargers, I allowed the plane to accelerate in level flight at 12,000 with 36" MP and 2575 RPM. She finally peaked out at 208 kts TAS. Yes, that is NOT a typo. (and I was burning 16.0 G/side). That is without any speed mods and a clean airframe with no old antennas, etc.

Scott Sherer

Thanks for the pics and comments. I'm going to remove my step and inspect under it for corrosion. On my Seneca I had severe corrosion under the back seats that cost $8k to repair. I definitely don't want that again! Thanks again.