High or low wing?

David Megginson wrote in message e.rogers.com...
G.R. Patterson III wrote:

I doubt it. The 172 performs better on less power than a PA-28 from the same year.

Do you have a source for that? It happens that I have the PIM's (generic
POH's) on my shelf for the 1981 Skyhawk (the plane I did most of my
training) and the 1979 Piper Warrior II (the plane I own, though the same
numbers apply to the 1981 Warrior II). Both have a 160 hp O-320 Lycoming
engine. Here are the true airspeeds at 8,000 ft DA and 75% power:

Cessna 172P Skyhawk: 121 ktas
Piper Cherokee Warrior II: 127 ktas

My experience is the same as a CFI. The Cherokee is faster. The seats
are also a bit further apart (we're talking inches here). The Cherokee
is also more stable and doesn't flop around as much. Of course the
hardest part of doing stalls in a Cherokee is knowing when its
stalled. Its so tame its hard to detect. Most of them simply will not
give you a break with power on and the yoke back to the stops.

-Robert