Malcolm Teas wrote:
: wrote in message news:
: That said, I'd recommend a Cherokee 140. Not sexy, not fast, but with a
: moderate loading like that (2 x 180 + 100), you're still 100 lbs under gross with 5-6
: hours of fuel on board. They're IFR-able too.

: The Cherokee 140 school of thought seems strong! We're looking at a
: couple of them and considering it. Any particular things to watch out
: for on this plane?

: -Malcolm

Our thought on the Cherokee was that by the book, it's just like a 172, but
roughly $10K less. Realistically, they fly a bit different (172 glide well,
Cherokees' chubby wings make the glide like the Warner Bros. anvil), but not enough to
get uptight about.

As far as gotchas with it, the biggest would be whether or not it sat for a
long time. Lycomings in particular tend to rust their camshafts if not flown enough.
Another potentially expensive oops is blown exhaust gaskets on the engine. If not
caught early, the hot gasses can blow out the sealing surface on the cylinders and
require cylinder replacement in addition to gasket replacement.

WRT airframe stuff, check the wings under the flaps by the fuselog for
corrosion. Also, the cabin floors and inside firewall because of notoriously leaky
doors and windshields. Pre-1969 models have a shotgun-blast panel layout (no standard
T-layout) and fuses, rather than breakers. If you're going to do instrument training,
it's nice to have the standard T-layout, but realistically it's what you get used to.
Check the stabilator for slightly lose bearings, and gear struts for leaks.

Basically, much of the general pre-purchase stuff. They're pretty light on
bad AD's and such.

-Cory

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