Rear passenger legroom in arrow

On 21-Oct-2004, "Dahlin" wrote:

I currently fly a 1969 140 and am considering buying an Arrow. Is there
more leg room for rear passengers in the Arrow than the 140? Is there a
difference in the pre 72 and post 72 Arrows with the longer fuselage as
far as legroom. I'm tall and need the seat back which doesn't leave any
leg
room in the 140. I've been told the PA-28 line is all about the same but I
have
a hard time believing a true 4 seater would have as little leg room in
back
as the 140.


I have an Arrow IV (1979 model), and I used to own a 1968 Cherokee 140, so I
feel your pain. I have also flown in earlier model Arrows and Cherokee
180s.

Early Arrows (pre Arrow II, i.e. before the 1973 model year), as well as
Cherokee 180s of he same vintage, are somewhat limited in rear seat legroom,
although they are certainly better in that regard than Cherokee 140s.
However, Piper added 5 inches to the rear seat area with a fuselage stretch
starting with the Arrow II. I believe other 4-place Cherokees (other than
the 140) got the same stretch around the same time. Anyway, these more
recent Arrows have quite adequate rear seat legroom. In ours, four adults
can fly very comfortably. It should be noted that the front seats have more
rearward travel than they really need -- well, maybe not for NBA centers --
and shoved all the way back they will encroach rather dramatically on rear
seat legroom, but this is a pretty common feature of 4-place light airplanes
-- and medium-sized cars, for that matter.
--
-Elliott Drucker