Narrative:

I was on a VFR flight plan. Weather brief obtained cavu VFR day and light winds at destination. Picked up ATIS and contacted tower about 12 miles out; told to report 2 miles left base to runway 36. Reported base and cleared for a visual; turned base and final on approach speeds; short final at vref 80 KTS. Smooth touchdown on mains and on centerline no appreciable wind. Upon nosewheel touchdown; plane (PA46) turned hard left toward edge of runway. I believe wheels were on ground and rudder (which also controls nosewheel) was straight and no brakes were applied to cause hard turn. I am not sure of immediate actions to control and whether I hit left rudder to aggravate or right rudder -- it happened suddenly. Before I knew it; I was at edge of runway; speed slowing and rather than using hard right rudder to maintain runway; I decided to let plane run out on frozen; level grass because there were no obstructions and plane had slowed. There seemed to be no damage; so I requested tower to return to the active and taxi to FBO. Tower requested I call them for a phone number. I spoke to the FSDO who suggested I have an a&P look at gear for any signs of damage. I called an a&P who came out and confirmed there was no damage and plane was safe for flight. My thought at time was surprise and I questioned whether I had done something to induce the problem. After getting ok from the a&P I continued my flight. Upon reaching the terminal area; I was fully briefed on what to do if nose pulled again on landing. I obviously was looking for a smooth; slow touchdown and hold nosewheel off as long as possible. Although I was hoping that based on a&P inspection the plane would track centerline. Feet were heels on floor and toes on rudder. Very smooth main gear landing; speed dissipated and nosewheel touchdown -- once again a hard left so I gave right rudder immediately; but decided to go around to avoid going off runway. Full power; positive rate; gear up; flaps up 1 notch when airspeed increased; requested pattern; cycled gear and yawed plane left and right on downwind; similar to aircraft procedure for emergency gear extension -- I thought this might straighten nosewheel. Smooth landing. I held nosewheel off and no noticeable pull to left on landing or taxi in. I had a&P look at and call my piper service center to discuss. They mentioned another customer had similar problems with a new malibu. The two a&P's discussed and suggested silicon be applied to two teflon bearings which apparently don't get grease. After discussion; both a&P's felt plane was safe to fly. I flew back then the next day. No problem on landing (20 KTS of headwind straight down runway). My partner is taking plane to piper service center today for evaluation. It should be noted the plane came out of annual 2 days before the first occurrence.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A PA46 pilot reported that his aircraft turned hard left on 2 landings at nosewheel touchdown. The first event resulted in a runway excursion while the second event resulted in a go-around and trouble shooting followed by a normal landing. Maintenance thought a non-lubricated teflon bearing could be at fault.

Narrative: I was on a VFR flight plan. Weather brief obtained CAVU VFR day and light winds at destination. Picked up ATIS and contacted Tower about 12 miles out; told to report 2 miles left base to Runway 36. Reported base and cleared for a visual; turned base and final on approach speeds; short final at VREF 80 KTS. Smooth touchdown on mains and on centerline no appreciable wind. Upon nosewheel touchdown; plane (PA46) turned hard left toward edge of runway. I believe wheels were on ground and rudder (which also controls nosewheel) was straight and no brakes were applied to cause hard turn. I am not sure of immediate actions to control and whether I hit left rudder to aggravate or right rudder -- it happened suddenly. Before I knew it; I was at edge of runway; speed slowing and rather than using hard right rudder to maintain runway; I decided to let plane run out on frozen; level grass because there were no obstructions and plane had slowed. There seemed to be no damage; so I requested Tower to return to the active and taxi to FBO. Tower requested I call them for a phone number. I spoke to the FSDO who suggested I have an A&P look at gear for any signs of damage. I called an A&P who came out and confirmed there was no damage and plane was safe for flight. My thought at time was surprise and I questioned whether I had done something to induce the problem. After getting ok from the A&P I continued my flight. Upon reaching the terminal area; I was fully briefed on what to do if nose pulled again on landing. I obviously was looking for a smooth; slow touchdown and hold nosewheel off as long as possible. Although I was hoping that based on A&P inspection the plane would track centerline. Feet were heels on floor and toes on rudder. Very smooth main gear landing; speed dissipated and nosewheel touchdown -- once again a hard left so I gave right rudder immediately; but decided to go around to avoid going off runway. Full power; positive rate; gear up; flaps up 1 notch when airspeed increased; requested pattern; cycled gear and yawed plane Left and right on downwind; similar to aircraft procedure for emergency gear extension -- I thought this might straighten nosewheel. Smooth landing. I held nosewheel off and no noticeable pull to left on landing or taxi in. I had A&P look at and call my Piper service center to discuss. They mentioned another customer had similar problems with a new Malibu. The two A&P's discussed and suggested silicon be applied to two teflon bearings which apparently don't get grease. After discussion; both A&P's felt plane was safe to fly. I flew back then the next day. No problem on landing (20 KTS of headwind straight down runway). My partner is taking plane to Piper service center today for evaluation. It should be noted the plane came out of annual 2 days before the first occurrence.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.