Marco Leon wrote:

Why don't you get a Warrior? There are some OK ones going for between
$30-$40K.

I was lured into looking at 140s because I was looking at Air/Ercoupes
and then realized that 140s with a lot more capability than Air/Ercoupes
could be had for not much more than people are asking for decent
Air/Ercoupes (up to mid 20's for the Alon models), with the added
advantage of being a relatively standard airframe. Going up to Warrior
money is a significantly bigger step. Since it's all fantasy and not
likely to actually happen at this point, I can look into that too
Also I fly in a club that has Warriors and is a pretty good deal, so if
I bought my own I'd simply be paying more and taking all the finanical
risks and responsbilities, to fly the same thing (but with sole
availability to me)

My uncle is looking for his own. Right now he is partnering with
me on my Warrior. IMHO, the Warrior is one of the better values out there.
They go almost as fast (according to the Piper single Engine catalog, the
difference is 1 kt!) and about 100 lbs less useful load for an average of
$20-$30K cheaper than an Archer.

Funny you should mention that, my club has Warriors but has a faction
that wants Archers (I doubt these debates EVER end in clubs). Those who
want the Archers say they are 10-15kt faster, those who don't make the
exact case you made, but they say they are 5-7kt faster, not just 1Kt
faster. And of course people in both factions have flown Archers and
swear by their numbers

I'm inclined to agree with you, I'd rather if they were going to spend
that much money that they increase the Warrior fleet size rather than
upgrade the same number of planes, especially since we already have
Mooneys in the feet too.