Fuel capacity 50.
In fact, by the time I’d saved enough money to purchase a well-used Globe Swift a year after passing my checkride, I’d actually begun to appreciate the Cherokee 180’s finer talents. Parking or emergency braking is controlled by a meaty handle and locking mechanism just to the left of the center console and easily manipulated with the pilot’s right hand. Firewalled at sea-level density altitude, my airplane will do 127 knots. They offer excellent value and performance for the money. This was probably the most boring flight of my life, but it proves that these Cherokees have legs. Brand loyalty was important to general aviation’s Big Three back then, just as it was to Detroit. If your personal mentor to a pilot’s license was a taildragger, there’s a good chance you’ll swear by that type and, inevitably, decry anything with the third wheel out front. The 180 and I, along with my wife and usually two brave friends, bounced all over California, Arizona, and Nevada, flying to air shows, hamburger joints, an occasional steak house or traveling to visit friends who acted dutifully impressed by the shiny little Piper. LoPresti also offers its BoomBeam landing-light enhancement. First rolled out in 1963, the original Cherokee 180 has been upgraded considerably, but is fundamentally still the same airframe, with some 10,000 flying.
A 2010 model retailed for $299,500, and came standard with an Avidyne Entegra glass panel, an S-TEC 55X autopilot, air conditioning and two Garmin 430W navigators. The Cherokee 180 had the simple, rectangular, Hershey-bar wing, it had a stall that was practically undetectable, and it was about the easiest machine to land I’d ever encountered. Posted by Piper Owner Society | Piper Airplane Specs, Piper Cherokee 180 |, Piper Cherokee 180 specs and Piper Cherokee 180 Useful Load – Specifications & Performance for a 1965 Piper Cherokee 180. There aren’t many four-cylinder, four-place singles that can haul weight like a Cherokee 180. For cross-country work, it has enough speed to make most headwinds only a slight nuisance and long-enough legs to be a decent though entry-level instrument platform. Piper placed it there, presumably to help with loading. Rarely would a new pilot trained in, say, a Cessna 150 look at another manufacturer’s product as a step-up airplane, because a larger, faster version of what he or she was already flying was readily available. Our plane has a useful load of about 940 pounds and is nicely equipped with modern avionics, including Garmin GNS430. Again, not bad for a modest airplane. By then, the New Piper Archer III got an upgraded cowl, an all-metal instrument panel, factory-installed Garmin GNS430/530 navigators, new paint schemes, air conditioning, better seats and an improved exhaust system. It wasn’t until 1976 that the new tapered wing—still the standard configuration today—was introduced to the 180-HP airframe, resulting in the type-designation change to PA-28-181, which also continues with the current model. Are you already a pilot? Just as Detroit’s Big Three had dealer networks, Beech, Cessna and Piper had them also, offering everything from primary flight training to maintenance, rental and charter.