Talk me in or out of buying a Cherokee 235 (described below)

arkvet said:
That is going to be a tight budget to get a plane that fits your mission / wants that is also unlikely to have any significant need for maintenance / repairs / upgrades within the first couple years. I bought my Saratoga with TBO engine at a price that reflected having no engine. One of my first upgrades was a JPI 830 and I'm approaching 200 hours in the plane without a hiccup and producing great power. However, I knew going in that I could be paying for a MOH at any time.

Although I'm not a big mooney fan myself I think some of the above posters have it correct that with your budget you may be able to get more bang for your buck?

Or if you don't care to be really slow a PA28-180 is really hard to beat and you'll get more for your $ with that model.
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My 66 180C isn't that slow.. cruises 138-140mph lol
 
Getonit said:
I flew that 235 up in Alaska for LAB flying service......might add an extra 1 in front of total time......just saying.....
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You flew for the Bennets..?? :lol::lol: Glad you survived. In 1998 I was on my way to interview with L.A.B. I was sitting in a crappy restaurant in Haines and got talking to a couple. Turned out it was old man Bennet. He told me all about how he was making millions off his pilots and the local villages. But his wife paid for my meal. They did not know I was on my way to interview. Long story short, I walked away and went elsewhere.

Yes, I can confirm that is an old LAB plane. It has probably sat in derelict row along with the 30 or so other LAB planes just rotting away for the last 18 or so years. Run, I mean run screaming away from this plane.

A quick search shows N44617 is still owned by the Bennet family. I would not believe any log book from that plane.

http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=44617

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L.A.B._Flying_Service
 
I think Steingar got a point. Although the Mooney gear is not as trouble-free as he's suggesting, it's not bad. That said... I paid $48k for M20E. It's doing okay - last annual was $830. But another renter in the same hangar had an M20G that he got for $38k. I was jealous until the moment he had to pull the jug. I ran into other Mooney owners with similar experiences - there's always some kind of trouble with the cheap ones. A Cherokee 180 is going to be cheaper.

The recent events brought up the spar issue for Cherokee. Although PA28 had something like 21 cases of wings separating -- way more than it took FAA to clamp down on CH601, I think that older ones that weren't trainers should be safe. Just make sure ADs are complied with. Honestly I'm more afraid of the stabilator flying off than a wing.

Flying a hershie-bar wing Cherokees was seriously irritating because of their poor climbing ability. I had to make a bunch of takeoffs when DA was above 10k, and it's just annoying to plan the departure with a racetrack pattern to gain altitude where Cessnas on 150hp just zoom over. The book numbers were a total lie, too. The Vy was obviously much higher than published. Takeoff rolls were the same, but takeoff distances over obstacles basically impossible. The approved manual insisted on doing a short-field with 1 notch. Good luck with that. Also! The crosswind ability of a Cherokee was terrible for me. I quickly found that I cannot take more than 17 knots, it's just out of rudder. I looked how my CFI did it, he did a kickout like in an airliner. I'll stick with a Cessna, thanks :) Other than flying capabilities, I liked Cherokees. Never crashed one :)
 
Pilawt said:
'Cept maybe a 180 hp STC'd C-172. ;)

Also, Cali is a city in Colombia. Very, very few Californians call it California that. The ones that do live other places now.
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"Cali" ... isn't that the state where "Frisco" is ... ? :p[/QUOTE]

That’s why you had Biggie killed, isn’t it? :)

 
Eric Gleason said:
Are you thinking of the PA-32 series? Those have 4 tanks. Pretty sure all the Pathfinder/Dakota series have the standard Cherokee 2 tanks.
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All of the PA-28-235 series (1963-77 Cherokee 235, Charger, Pathfinder) have the usual Hershey-bar-wing Cherokee tanks (25 gallons per side), plus a 17-gallon tank in each wingtip - 4 tanks for a total of 84 gallons. The original PA-32 (1965-78 Cherokee Six) wing and fuel tank system is identical to the Cherokee 235.

The PA-28-236 Dakota (1979-1995) has the same wing as the taper-wing Arrow, with two tanks for a total of 72 gallons usable.
 
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