Pilot Life: My First Flight in a Piper Cherokee!

The DA-20 Katana and DA-40 Diamond Star are not the only fixed-gear trainer aircraft in Platinum Aviation's fleet. The school also has a Piper PA-28 Cherokee Cruiser with fixed gear, which serves as more of a transitional trainer for students wanting to fly the school's Piper Arrow, which is used for commercial flight training. I've been wanting to try my hand at the Cherokee since my instructor suggested doing so after getting my license and today was the day to do it! I met up with with my flight instructor and he first had me tow the airplane over from the ramp to the school's maintenance hangar because it's cold and there was frost on the wings! Once I got the plane in the hangar and closed the door, my instructor met up with me and we went through the pre-flight and give the airplane a chance to defrost. We then wiped off the melted condensation on the metal surfaces of the aircraft before pulling it back out of the hangar.

Piper PA-28-140 Cherokee Cruiser (N7625F), the "ugly duckling" of the Platinum Aviation fleet, and a new aircraft type to add to my logbook!

My instructor and I hopped in and using the checklist, we walked through start-up procedures and got the engine started. Once started up, we taxied a short distance and the went through the run-up procedures; we took our time since this was new aircraft type for me to get used to. While my private pilot license allows me to legally operate another single-engine aircraft such as the Piper PA-28 Cherokee and don't require a type-rating for it (because it weighs less than 12,500 lbs.!), I do have to get familiar with it (which is and should always be the wisest course of action) before I get cut loose in it on my own, hence having my instructor fly with me. And I do plan on adding additional aircraft to my logbook and log flight time in them (and let includes my uncle's Mooney M20 up in Idaho as well as my other uncle's Cessna 172 back home in Oregon!)!

After completing run-ups, my instructor showed me a new addition to the airport operations; we got our own AWOS (Automated Weather Observation System)! That's right, changes to the Spanish Fork-Springville Airport have been brewing for a while now, which includes changes to the identifier codes from U77 to KSPK/SPK (which I need remember to write in my logbook from here on out!), an instrument approach procedure, and weather information; previously, we had to apply the ATIS weather broadcast out of Provo for Spanish Fork's weather and many of us noticed (myself included) that certain weather factors had variations between the two locations. Given Spanish Fork's proximity to Provo with the latter being the second-busiest airport in the state of Utah, and with all the flight training going on in the valley, upgrading the Spanish Fork-Springville Airport seems like a move in the right direction; I personally think Spanish Fork can live up to become a reliever airport to Provo in the future!

I taxied us out to the runway and then we took off and got airborne. On takeoff, I realized right away that this Piper Cherokee Cruiser flies like a pig compared to my usual Diamond Katanas! The vertical speed and climb rate isn't as great, but given how cold it was outside, my instructor was pleased with the airplane's performance today (he begs to differ during the summer time though!). I turned us out towards the south and once we leveled off, my instructor had me go through some maneuvers. We started with slow flight, followed by power-on and power-off stalls. My instructor walked me through each maneuvers and told me which airspeeds applied where for the maneuvers. I still had to get used to flying with a control yoke instead of a stick, as well as figure out where certain switches and controls were. Otherwise, the basic principles of flight were still the same.

After doing some maneuvers, my instructor walked me through a simulated engine-out procedure; the Piper Cherokee Cruiser, with it's shorter and stubbier wingspan glides like a brick (which is why I like to refer to it as the "ugly duckling!"). After recovering, we headed back to the airport to do some touch-and-go landings; again, my instructor walked me through them since the plane has different handling characteristics. Let's just say landings could use a little work in this plane! A lot of the controls in the plane are manual and not electric (old school!) so it takes quite a bit of physical exertion to handle the yoke and lower the flaps. Honestly, I think the Cherokee handled similarly to my uncle's Mooney on landing! My instructor and I logged a total of three landings on this introductory flight.

After our full-stop landing, I taxied the Cherokee back to the ramp where I towed it from before shutting down the engine. We then debriefed on a few things, including the tow bar the plane came equipped with. After securing the airplane, I filled out my logbook, adding a third aircraft type! It's a big deal for me because this was my first logbook entry in an airplane constructed entirely out of metal (aluminum to be exact!); the lighter DA20-C1 Katanas I got my primary flight instruction in are made of glass-fiber and carbon-fiber composite materials and the Emeraude tail-dragger where I got an introductory flight in for conventional gear aircraft was made of wood and fabric. Considering that I want to eventually log time in my uncle's Mooney M20 and my other uncle's Cessna 172 (which are also heavier, metal airplanes), learning in the Cherokee is a good place to start. It's also a good place for me to start preparing for a possible transition to the Piper Arrow if I choose to pursue my commercial rating at Spanish Fork.

And even better: Even though I flew the plane with my instructor, I got to log both dual time and pilot-in-command time on this flight, because I was for the most part the sole manipulator of the controls of the aircraft. But I was also receiving instruction from my instructor at the same time as well, so he also got to log the flight as pilot-in-command; this is another benefit of having a private pilots license! I can't wait for my next flight in the Cherokee!