1970 Piper PA-28-140
I'm a student pilot and I bought the plane to learn how to fly. I joined the forum a while back, but I've been waiting for a nice to day to clean her up. I washed her and waxed the fuselage today. I still need to do the wings.
Comments
Z, perfect first buy flyer! Congrats.
carl
48 yrs A/P IA DAL aircraft inspector. 172N
Fantastic! That plane is hot in more ways than one! ;) My first plane was a cherokee 180. I had my PPL already but flew it for my IFR rating. A great airframe and the 28 series are really honest fliers.
Welcome to the group! Keep us updated on your flying journey too. There are probably many people following along considering similar that would benefit from your insight and experiences as a student owner.
Eric Panning
1981 Seneca III
Hillsboro, OR (KHIO)
Beautiful plane! Hope you enjoy many hours in it. The PA 28 line is a very solid design.
Keep us posted on your progress and come here to the forum with questions, whether flying, maintenance, instrumentation, insurance, troubleshooting, etc. Lots of very knowledgeable folks here. Welcome to the group!
Jim "Doc Griff" Griffin
PA28 - 161
Chicago area
Hi Z,
Welcome and Congratulations on your new airplane, she’s beautiful!
When I saw the pictures you posted, it caught my attention! I believe I flew your airplane WAY back in the 1970-1973 time frame!
The FAA Registration information that I see online does not go back that far, but I think I recognize your N number, color and paint scheme from airplanes I flew at a Piper Dealer and Flight School in Elgin Illinois back when I was in High School working at that airport and learning how to fly!
It seems Piper musta blocked a bunch of N numbers ending in “U” around that time as I recall several of our airplanes ending in “U”. The airplane I Soloed in was named “N5516U”, a sister ship of yours!
If you have the time, and have the original Aircraft Logbooks, the original Piper were White, could you take a peek and see on Day 1 when your baby came outa Vero Beach if she made it up to Elgin Illinois and had her first work done at “Elgin Airport Corporation” or “Tufts-Edgecumbe Elgin Airport”, or something like that!?
Ive long misplaced my Pilot Logbook from back then or I’d just look it up myself!
You’ll love the way the Cherokee flys! So many of us have started in that very safe, stable airplane of yours!
She looks in great shape! Looks like original paint too! Well, we did take great care of our airplanes there at Elgin. As a Lineboy the airplanes were washed very often, as not only being used by the large, busy Flight School, all the airplanes were for sale. So Mr. Edgecumbe liked then kept very clean! 😜
Thank You for submitting your pictures and for the chance to take a walk down memory lane…
I’ll look forward to seeing if I actually did get to fly your 73U, back in the day! I hope I left some good landings left! 😜
Thanks again Zolmok!
Stay Safe, Fly Fun!
George
N8434M KLPR
George; Speaking of tail numbers...(and yes, to everyone else, I understand we've gone a little off topic).
When I was a student, one of my x-c flights was from PWK (Pal-Waukee back then, now Chicago Executive) to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. No "follow the magenta line" GPS back then, the whole flight was done with paper charts and dead-reckoning. True old school pilotage.
I land at Cedar Rapids, and go into the FBO to get a Coke and check in (now the instructor just follows your progress on Flight Aware). When I walked out, there was a police car parked next to my plane. I couldn't recall doing anything wrong, but it's unusual to have a squad car and officer on the ramp standing next to your plane. Turns out the officer was also a pilot, and just wanted to see my plane. He trained in the sister plane, with a tail number only one digit different from mine. Said his trainer had the exact same paint scheme and interior as mine.
I told him I was a student doing my final x-c before my check ride. He offered to sign my log book, but my instructor had already called the airport, confirmed that I had landed, and was ready to head back. Looking back, I wish that I had gotten his signature. Great memories!
Jim "Doc Griff" Griffin
PA28 - 161
Chicago area
Keep us posted on your progress and come here to the forum with questions, whether flying, maintenance, instrumentation, insurance, troubleshooting, etc. Lots of very knowledgeable folks here. Welcome to the group!
I bought it in January of this year. The annual was coming up in February if I remember correctly, I went ahead and had in done in when I bought it. My CFI recommended I put new tires and brakes on so I did that, along with an oil change and such, it didn't need much else. I've put around 25 "training" hours on it since then. I've done 2 instructor led cross countries, one during the day and one at night. She's a solid plane, I'm very pleased with it.
When I saw the pictures you posted, it caught my attention! I believe I flew your airplane WAY back in the 1970-1973 time frame!
Wow!
If you have the time, and have the original Aircraft Logbooks, the original Piper were White, could you take a peek and see on Day 1 when your baby came outa Vero Beach if she made it up to Elgin Illinois and had her first work done at “Elgin Airport Corporation” or “Tufts-Edgecumbe Elgin Airport”, or something like that!?
I have all of the logbooks back to 1970, but being a new owner, I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking at. Some of the pages are written in cursive and are hard to read. This is page 1, but it doesn't seem to have the information you're asking about.
Then flipping through a couple of pages, this is the first one that describes and sort of work done on the plane.
I'm not sure if this was the same plane you flew or not, but that would be cool if it were!
No "follow the magenta line" GPS back then, the whole flight was done with paper charts and dead-reckoning. True old school pilotage.
My CFI is 77 years old, he's probably forgotten more about flying then I'll ever know. He's not just a great instructor, he's just a great guy in general, I consider myself blessed to have found him. At any rate, this is how he's teaching me. I have to do flight planning with a paper chart, plotter and an e6b. He's not against modern equipment, he just wants to make sure we can still fly if all of that goes away for some reason. He says you should never fly without a paper chart in the plane.
He offered to sign my log book, but my instructor had already called the airport, confirmed that I had landed, and was ready to head back. Looking back, I wish that I had gotten his signature. Great memories!
That's really cool!
Zolmok:
You have an excellent instructor then. Keep him. My experience is below.
On a somewhat regular basis, I'll shut off all the electronic devices and fly by raw pilotage. Keeps those skills sharp, so in the event of the loss of my GPS and tablet, I can still fly to and land safely at our destination.
The comment I get most often is "Yeah, but what are the chances that you'll lose both of those devices at the same time?" Me: "It has already happened. Lost both devices nearly simultaneously, so in my case, the chances were 100%." The paper charts came out, we landed, and I fixed both devices. We took off, I completed the flight and we arrived safely at our destination.
I've been in the computer industry since the late 1800's, and I'll just say this: sooner or later, electronic (and mechanical) equipment will fail, so always have a backup. Flying by paper charts is how us dinosaurs learned, but the paper chart will never have the batteries run out or go black screen of death on you.
Fly safely and have fun!
Jim "Doc Griff" Griffin
PA28 - 161
Chicago area
Thanks Z!
Thanks for taking the time to look all that up!
Looks like your airplane first went to the West Coast, at least the “Yellow Tag” for a replacement component, maybe a Tach, was from Portland-Hillsboro Airport just West of PDX.
I flew her twin outa the Chicago area…
Enjoy your new airplane and stay in touch, I’ve been a Piper Owner for a handful of years now and have found that information here on the Forum to be invaluable!
Stay Safe, Fly Fun!
George
N8434M KLPR
Great looking Cherokee. PA28-140 is an honest aircraft to learn to fly. Mine just entertains and old man on a nice day.
What all the others said! Congratulations! It will fit the bill for a long time. Flying my 180 for 39 years! You have a GREAT PANEL! All you need for many years to come.
Regards,
Mike
Get that birdie some wheel pants and she will gain 5 - 7 knots in cruise 😉
Definitely agree with the instructor's old-school approach! About that "no flying without paper" rule though, will admit that for a while I was afraid to let go of the trees. But now I pack 3 tablets (one for the panel, and one for each yolk) and 1 mobile phone (backup which rides in the flight bag). If I am solo flying, then the tablet for the other yolk rides along in the flight bag. Each of the tablets qualifies as an EFB and carries data which will let me fly either VFR or IFR anywhere in the US, including terminal area and WAC charts. Try that with paper. (Disclaimer: only approved GPS devices are allowable for GPS navigation, and my EFB's are NOT legal for that purpose. But they DO qualify as paper substitutes.) I actually used to carry 4 tablets, but decided to reduce the flight bag's weight, and that I did not need the extra redundant redundancy.
To offset a total power loss, including all tablets, I always maintain situational awareness of where I am. Granted that there is a chance of also losing the tablets (and the backup mobile phone, and the backup handheld radio), but the risk is rather slim.
For tablet use, one area where I break from common usage is that I power them while in flight rather than run off their internal battery. Reasoning is that battery life is dependent on number of cycles, and most of my missions will exhaust the tablet battery before landing. Also, if I do lose complete power in the plane, the tablet's battery duration starts from the time of power loss, and not from an early phase of the flight.
Getting all these goodies is fairly easy. Kids outgrow their "ancient" 4 year old tablet and parents try to offload them. Fun fact: Avair is free for Android (won't work on Apple). For getting a backup handheld radio, chances are good that there is a nearby pilot who is facing loss of medical and looking for a new good home for the collection of stuff. There are also the online places to get used stuff.
Last thought. Get ADSB-IN. This is super easy and relatively affordable with a StratuX and a tablet. Or go even more affordable by sourcing the Raspberry Pi parts and building a StratuX device on your own. One avoidable pitfall with the StratuX is the need to input your ownship's HEX code into the settings. If skipping this un-advertised setup requirement, you will discover dog-fighting with yourself. By adding your transponder's HEX code to Stratux, it will ignore alerts for your own aircraft.
Get that birdie some wheel pants and she will gain 5 - 7 knots in cruise 😉
It came with wheel pants, but my instructor recommended I leave them off while training.
will admit that for a while I was afraid to let go of the trees. But now I pack 3 tablets (one for the panel, and one for each yolk) and 1 mobile phone
Interesting...
For tablet use, one area where I break from common usage is that I power them while in flight rather than run off their internal battery.
Also interesting, I might consider this as well, thanks!
Last thought. Get ADSB-IN.
The plane came with a Stratus transponder with an ADS-B in receiver. I also picked up a Sentry before I realized the Stratus already had what I needed, ugh.