Piper PA-28 Cherokee
Aircraft Description
The Piper PA-28 Cherokee is a family of two-seat or four-seat light aircraft built by Piper Aircraft and designed for flight training, air taxi and personal use. The PA-28 family of aircraft comprises all-metal, unpressurized, single piston-engined airplanes with low mounted wings and tricycle landing gear. They have a single door on the right side, which is entered by stepping on the wing.
The PA-28 is the fourth most produced aircraft in history. The first PA-28 received its type certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration in 1960 and the series remains in production to this day. The Archer was discontinued in 2009, but with investment from new company ownership, the model was put back into production in 2010. As of 2024, five models were in production; the Archer TX and LX, the diesel-powered Archer DX and DLX, and the Pilot 100i.
The PA-28 series competed with the now discontinued, similarly low-winged Grumman American AA-5 series and Beechcraft Musketeer designs and continues to compete with the high-winged Cessna 172.
Piper has created variations within the Cherokee family by installing engines ranging from 140 to 300 hp (105–220 kW), offering turbocharging, retractable landing gear, constant-speed propellers and stretching the fuselage to accommodate six people. The Piper PA-32 (initially known as the "Cherokee Six") is a larger, six-seat variant of the PA-28. The PA-32R Saratoga variant was in production until 2009.
At the time of the Cherokee's introduction, Piper's primary single-engined, 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.
