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I learned to fly in a 1973 Cherokee 140. Nice easy plane to fly. Power quadrant rather than the push rod throttle and mixture in most other small planes made it a breeze to set both power and mixture exactly where you wanted. Overhead trim was no problem, and the mechanical flaps make for consistant flap settings on approaches/landings. The low wing/mechanical flap setup can come in handy in an emergency.
(Saw that demonstrated.. Engine out, not enough altitude to reach the runway, pilot didn't deploy the flaps until about 15 feet off the ground. When he grabbed the first notch, he ballooned up to about 50 feet, let it settle to 15, and repeated the proceedure twice more. It gave him JUST enough extra to make the runway. Later told the folks he had read about this somewhere and had practiced it with an instructor, so he knew it would work.)
Down side.. It's deffinately NOT a four passenger airplane. Flew from Indianapolis to just north of Milwaukee with my wife and 5 year old son. Three smallish bags and enough fuel for the trip and 45 minute reserve. That put us at gross and the wife and boy had to ride in back to stay within weight/balance limits. With instructor and me plus full fuel, we had to throw 100+ pounds of sandbags in the baggage compartment to stay within CG.
Another minor problem has to do with trim/flap coordination on approach. In the 140, we'd crank in full nose up trim and use elevator to hold attitude when we pulled flaps. Initially, that was nose down force, becoming fairly neutral at the flair. However, all other Cherokee 150/160/180's I flew exhibited a very distinct and abrupt pitch up attitude when flown in this configuration.
Qualification here.. I've got over 100 hours, mostly in PA28's, but some in C172's and AA5's. All of that was while we were still living in the mid-west. Haven't been able to afford to fly since moving to California, nearly 20 years ago. So, the experience and recollections are a little stale. :-)
Jerry
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Comments and opinions are my own and do not reflect those of my employer.
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Comments and opinions are my own and do not reflect those of my employer.
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