Dale,
G'day,
Yep, I used to own a "Hatched" and to be honest it was a great little aircraft (and still is- a friend of mine bought it from me earlier this year).
Yes they do have more room, and I think you'll find they even lift slightly more wieght, not a whole lot more but still more. To give you an example I have loaded up the Axe with two heavy people (about 230KG between us) and full fuel on top of that, and the aircraft had no problem with it, lets just say I probably would not do the same with my 150, I am a little more weight concious.
They are more roomy, and there is more room on the instrument panel for all the gagets etc. they are easy to fly and land, and the vis is great without the wing on top, although having said that, on a hot day is nice to have a wing to stand / sit under, and down here where there are lots of farms with fences, a high wing can get through the farm gates between poddocks a lot easier.
Now my dislike, and there is only really one or two I guess, and that is, I tend to find with the "T" tail, the aircraft seem to fishtail in the sky a bit, more noticable on rough days, where the 150 fly's straight and feels a bit more solid on the Elevator / Rudder controls. The other is the trim set up, which is basically a spring system instead of a direct drive control cable as such like the 150, if you go for a fly (have a look down the inside tail of one) and you'll see what I mean.
Now after all that, yes, I have owned one, and if another one came up at a reasonable price, yes, I would probably own another, they are probably less maintenance intensive than a 150/152, but then its not like 150/152 are overly maintenance intensive anyway......On the subject of parts, you've probably got a better chance of getting second hand parts for a 150 than a Tomahawk, simply because there was only around 2500 Axe's made where as 150/152's, well there's heaps, around 30,000 of them. Piper still supports the Tomahawk so it can't be all bad.
Look, this is just my thoughts on the aircraft, ask a few others, go take one for a fly and see what you think, I tend think they are an under rated aircraft, and some just like to pick on them for the hell of it.
There are a couple of Tomahawk Forums if you search through google.
Good luck with your decission, you probably won't be dissapointed either way.....
Cheers
