Piper Cherokee

The Cherokee is the common name for the Piper's PA-28 family of aircraft models, which received its type certificate from the FAA in 1960 and is still under production by The New Piper Aircraft Company today.

The Cherokee is an all-metal, unpressurized, four-seat, single-engine, piston-powered plane with low wings and tricycle (nosewheel) gear; its main competitors have been the Cessna 172 and the Beechcraft Musketeer. All Cherokees have a single door on the co-pilot side, which you enter by walking on the wing. The low-end Cherokees are popular trainers.

Piper has created many variations on the Cherokee by installing engines ranging from 140 to 235 horsepower, fixed or retractable landing gear, fixed-pitch or constant-speed propellers, and even turbo-charging. Earlier Cherokees had rectangular wings popularly referred to as "Hershey Bar wings"; later Cherokees (from the late 1970s on) have wings with a tapered outboard section.

Currently, Piper produces three Cherokee variants: the 160 horsepower Warrior III (PA-28-161) and the 180 horsepower Archer III (PA-28-181), both with fixed gear and a fixed-pitch prop, and the 200 horsepower Arrow (PA-28R-201), with a constant-speed prop and retractable gear for better performance (the Arrow is also available in a turbo-charged version, the PA-28R-201T, for better operation at high altitude). The older entry-level Cherokee 140 (most are 150 horsepower) is still extremely popular because of its reliability and low purchase price on the used aircraft market.