Flightline: 31/TBD

"user314" (user314) 08/20/2020 at 11:00 • Filed to: flightline, Planelopnik, planelopnik history, General Aviation, private pilot, Piper Arrow, Piper, Piper Cherokee

2

5

Hull, England, 2013

!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! was founded as Taylor Brothers Aircraft M anufacturing Company in 1927 by !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and Gordon Taylor, though it filed for bankruptcy in 1930 and was purchased by Pennsylvania oilman !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , who saw the renamed Piper Aircraft Co. through the Great Depression (softened by the introduction of the famous !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ) and WWII, though he was ousted in 1947 . The following year, Piper bought !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which allowed them to produce the latter’s ‘Twin Stinson’ as the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the first all-metal twin-engined general aviation aircraft. In the late 1950s, Piper began work on a simpler, cheaper alternative to its !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , with the result being the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

The PA-28 featured fixed landing gear and a fixed prop, while the larger Comanche had retractable gear and a constant-speed prop. The Cherokee initially had a broad, constant-chord wing, referred to as the “Hershey Bar”, though this was changed to a tapered, NACA-652-415 wing in the 1974 Warrior model. Other !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! included more powerful engines, retractable gear and constant-speed propeller. The Cherokee proved to be popular with general aviation pilots, with 32,000 produced since 1960. The type also saw use with various military and government organizations , particularly in South America.

In 2001, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , an English-born music teacher and aviatrix, flew solo around the world in her PA-28-236 Dakota, the smallest aircraft flown solo by a woman around the world via Australia, which included a 16-hour flight from Hawaii to California, in support of Flying Scholarships for the Disabled. In May of 2003, she set out for Scholarships, this time flying over both poles and all seven continents, returning in April of 2004. In May of 2007, she flew in what was called the   Wings Around Britain Challenge , visiting every airfield in the Jeppsen VFR M anual. Between May 21st and July 31st she visited 221 fields, covering nineteen thousand miles in 158 flying hours. Through various legs of the flight, 96 disabled passengers were carried. In 2015 her Dakota, which had since been sold to another pilot, was !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! after overrunning a grass strip at a private airfield. The pilot was reportedly too high and too fast attempting the landing, and touched down almost a quarter of the way down the 800m strip, which was wet after a rain storm. The pilot, who later admitted that he should have aborted the landing, was uninjured, but the plane suffered irreparable damage to the wing, prop, landing gear and engine mountings when it struck a hedge.

1964 Piper PA-28-180 on Floats

A Piper PA-28-181 Archer LX of the Argentine Coast Guard (Prefectura Naval Argentina)

Piper PA-28R-200 Cherokee Arrow II of the Finnish Air Force

WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI > user314 08/20/2020 at 12:00

1

That’s a lot of stickers. Must have, like, 10,000 hp.

Darkbrador > user314 08/20/2020 at 13:08

1

You did it ! Thanks, man

Also, a 16-hour flight from Hawaii to California in a PA-28 ... uh ... respect. 

user314 > Darkbrador 08/20/2020 at 13:12

1

This actually was rewritten a couple of times. I started out with more details on the Taylor Brothers and the long, convoluted history of Piper Aircraft, but honestly, their respective Wiki articles do both far better justice than I could (plus, WAAAAAAAAAA Y too many words ) . Plus, TIL about Polly, who is an amazing person. 

TheRealBicycleBuck > user314 08/20/2020 at 17:58

1

My primary training aircraft was a Cherokee PA-28-140. It’s a good little plane, if a bit underpowered  when conditions are hot. They liked to make fun of me at the school for flying it until I pointed out that my per-hour costs were significantly lower than theirs. :)

facw > TheRealBicycleBuck 08/20/2020 at 23:49

1

As someone who flew Cessna 150/152s, I say any plane is a good plane!