Piper 180 :
The Piper PA-28 Cherokee is a family of light aircraft designed for flight training, air taxi, and personal use. It is built by Piper Aircraft.
All members of the PA-28 family are all-metal, unpressurized, single-engine, piston-powered airplanes with low-mounted wings and tricycle landing gear. They all have a single door on the co-pilot side, which is entered by stepping on the wing.
Development :
At the time of the Cherokee's introduction, Piper's primary single-engine, all-metal aircraft was the Piper PA-24 Comanche, a larger, faster aircraft with retractable landing gear and a constant-speed propeller. Karl Bergey,Fred Weick and John Thorp designed the Cherokee as a less expensive alternative to the Comanche, with lower manufacturing and parts costs to compete with the Cessna 172, although some later Cherokees also featured retractable gear and constant-speed propellers.
The Cherokee and Comanche lines continued in parallel production serving different market segments for over a decade, until Comanche production was ended in 1972, to be replaced by the Piper PA-32R family.
General characteristics
- Crew: one pilot
- Capacity: three passengers
- Length: 23.3 feet (7.16 m)
- Wingspan: 30.0 feet (9.2 m)
- Height: 7.3 feet (2.25 m)
- Wing area: 160 sq ft (15.14 m²)
- Airfoil: NACA 652-415
- Empty weight: 1201 lb (544 kg)
- Loaded weight: 2150 lb (975 kg)
- Useful load: 949 lb (430 kg)
- Max takeoff weight: 2150 lb (975 kg)
- Powerplant: 1 × Lycoming O-320-E2A Sensenich M74DM, 150 hp (113 kW)
- Propeller diameter: 74 inches (1.9 m)
Performance
- Maximum speed: 123 knots (142 mph, 230 km/h)
- Cruise speed: 108 knots (124 mph, 200 km/h)
- Stall speed: 47 knots (54 mph, 87 km/h)
- Range: 465 nm (535 sm, 867 km)
- Service ceiling: 14,300 feet (4400 m)
- Rate of climb: 660 ft/min (3.4 m/s)
- Wing loading: 13.4 lb/sq ft (64.4 kg/m2)
- Power/mass: 14.3 lb/hp (0.116 kW/kg)
