Piper PA28 Series

First, the discussion on Jack's new Arrow regarding the rheostat and
landing gear lights was a good refresher for me this past Saturday.
I flew a P28T (Piper Turbo Arrow IV) 6.7 hours on three legs.
I didn't check the lights upon startup and taxi (it was daylight and the
gear was down as I pulled it out of the hangar).
The first time I dropped the gear and didn't see three green.
No problem... just reach over and roll the switch all the way down and
past the click and vwalla! Three green! (Thanks guys!)

The one thing the trip did remind me of though was just how narrow and
cramped the cabin is compared to the Piper PA-32 series and Cessna
C182's that I have been flying.

In those aircraft I have plenty of extra space to set my charts/plates
and handheld. In the 182 I can place stuff on the floor between the
seats. In the PA32, there is space behind the pilot and copilot seats.
The only place to put them in the Arrow in beneath the pilot's seat.

The Arrow I fly has fleece seat covers and it is a tight squeeze to
slide my hands between the seats to adjust the elevator trim.
Then there is the headroom problem. The top of the cabin pinches inward
so that shoulder and headroom is very tight.

Then there is the rear seat legroom with me in the front. The only way
to fit my family in is to fly with my wife in right rear and a kid in
the left rear and right front.

I agree that cabin space in the PA28s is cramped, but you're comparing
big 6 cylinder aircraft with 200 hp or less 4 cylinder aircraft except
for the 235/dakota series, which combines a cramped cabin with a big
engine and can lift small elephants if you can get them into the cabin
:-)

The Arrow in particular gets fine performance from its 180/200 hp
engine (1000 lb useful load), though the Mooney is even more efficient.

On 10-Apr-2005, jsmith wrote:

The one thing the trip did remind me of though was just how narrow and
cramped the cabin is compared to the Piper PA-32 series and Cessna
C182's that I have been flying.

In those aircraft I have plenty of extra space to set my charts/plates
and handheld. In the 182 I can place stuff on the floor between the
seats. In the PA32, there is space behind the pilot and copilot seats.
The only place to put them in the Arrow in beneath the pilot's seat.

The Arrow I fly has fleece seat covers and it is a tight squeeze to
slide my hands between the seats to adjust the elevator trim.
Then there is the headroom problem. The top of the cabin pinches inward
so that shoulder and headroom is very tight.

Then there is the rear seat legroom with me in the front. The only way
to fit my family in is to fly with my wife in right rear and a kid in
the left rear and right front.


I fly a normally aspirated Arrow IV, and I have plenty of hours also in
C-172s, 182s, and other Cherokees. To me, the cabin of the (newer) Arrows
seems quite adequate. Certainly not as spacious as a PA-32, but about the
same as a C-172. The reason why you can't use the floor between the front
seats is that is where the manual flaps lever is located. I put my approach
plate books just behind the flap handle, between the rear footwells, and my
extra charts in the pocket by my left knee,

My plane has the vertically adjustable front seats, and with them I can't
imagine having a headroom problem. My compact car has less front headroom
than my Arrow. And, unlike in a 182, I don't sacrifice side-to-side
visibility when I raise the seat to a comfortable (for me) sitting position.

Rear seat legroom is fine, even for adults, unless the pilot and copilot are
very tall (and thus have to slide their seats way back). Not true in early
Arrows, before the cabin stretch with the Arrow II model.

--
-Elliott Drucker