Sluggish AI

[Puc]

Hello,
I had some odd airspeed indicator behavior when I went for circuits in the cherokee today. I don't quite understand what caused it so maybe someone here can help me with some input.
Reaching rotation speed seemed to take forever. Then attitude was also abnormally level to maintain Vy for the first 2-300 feet. It got stuck at 80kts for the rest of the climb and I couldn't bring it down no matter how much I pitched up (until stall warning came on), pitot heat wasn't helping either. Levelling off speed picked up as usual but stuck there more or less until I landed. It also took a good 5 minutes of taxiing for the needle to come down to 0. VSI and altimeter were acting as usual so I don't think it was a static issue, pitot heat was on for long enough to melt any ice and there was no visible pitot blockage prior or after the flight. Did the aneroid just crap out?

[youhavecontrol]

Water in the pitot/static line perhaps? Sounds like you gotta snag that sucker and get it looked at.

[cdnpilot77]

I once had an issue like this...ame took the line off and blew some air through it and out popped a very large very dead ant that had blocked the pitot tube. Impossible to see during preflight.

[waterdog]

It sounds to me like a partial blocked pitot tube......It will allow some air to pass ( up to 80 ) but the blockage is big enough that more air then that cannot get passed and therefore the speed is stuck at 80. When you land the air pressure is taking some time to leak out passed the blockage and thats why its stuck at 80 on the ground, passive leakage vs dynamic pressurization of the system.... Either way, a partial blockage could easily turn into a complete blockage very easily and should get checked out.

[ahramin]

Was there any maintenance done on the pitot static system recently? Do you use a pitot cover when the aircraft is parked?