Stations in a Cherokee 140

[Chrisgoesflying]

I have a 1966 Cherokee 140. When I look at my official W&B of the plane, it says the front seats are at 85.5 in, the rear seats are at 117 in but then it also says the baggage is at 117 in. These numbers seem consistent when I look at the W&B of other Cherokee 140s. I find that strange. I mean, the baggage, although in the main cabin (these 140s don't have a separate baggage compartment with a door like the 160 or 180 do), is much further aft than the passenger seats. I usually put my bags behind the backseats and some of the lighter stuff even further back on the hat rack. I had a Cessna 150 before the Cherokee and remember that they actually separated the baggage area in the tiny Cessna 150 in two different parts, each with their own arm. I also remember that even the front seats had an arm range instead of a fixed value, depending on where you put the seat.

 

[murphey]

Do you have a copy of the TCDS? That defines the stations.

 

[Bell206]

it says the front seats are at 85.5 in, the rear seats are at 117 in but then it also says the baggage is at 117 in. These numbers seem consistent when I look at the W&B of other Cherokee 140s. I find that strange.

FYI: in general, those station numbers, in that format, are nominal figures used for calculating the certified empty weight and balance and not where the baggage can actually be put. Those stations/calculations fall to the pilot when he loads the aircraft. In addition, in some configurations where baggage and cabin seats share the same area, there usually is a higher baggage weight allowance with those seats removed and usually noted somewhere in the OEM docs.

 

[AeroLudite]

The 117” is to rear of baggage compartment bulkhead.
Note this web site...
http://trumpetb.net/alph/wbPA28-140.html

 

[Pilawt]

Quite possibly your Cherokee came originally as a two seater! It was popular to convert them to 4-seaters by replacing the baggage area floor cover with a 4-seat cover.

Exactly. As originally built, the entire cabin aft of the Cherokee 140's front seats was the baggage area.

The Cherokee 140 was introduced in 1964 as a two-seat trainer intended to compete with the Cessna 150. Until then, Piper's only two-seat trainers were the fabric-covered Colt and Super Cub, and the C-150 owned the trainer market. Piper had a modern low-wing trainer under development, the PA-29 Papoose. But its new composite construction turned out to be not ready for prime-time -- or even direct sunlight, for that matter -- and it was abandoned. As a stop-gap measure to supply its dealer network with a viable trainer, the four-seat Cherokee 150 family plane was reworked into a stripped-down two-seater, becoming the Cherokee 140, selling at a loss-leader price. A year later the "2+2 Cruiser" option package was offered, with snap-in back seats in the baggage compartment.

Beginning in ‘67, all came as 4-seat.

Well, yes and no. In 1971-74, to get back to the original concept of the Cherokee 140 as a stripped-down, fleet-spec trainer, Piper offered the "Cherokee 140 Flite Liner" to its Piper Flite Center network. The Flite Liner came with just two seats and standardized, spartan equipment. The only options were a 360-channel navcom (instead of 100-channel), and blue trim paint instead of red. If you see a Cherokee 140 with a registration number ending in "FL", chances are it was a Flite Liner. The Flite Liner concept was revived in the late 1980s as the two-seat Piper Cadet version of the Warrior; and yet again currently as the three-seat "Pilot 100" version of the Archer.