I spent a year in Washington DC working for the feds at a granting agency. It was a great job that really took advantage of my knowledge of the field and I would have been pretty happy with the year regardless of the flying. As it turned out, the flying was just phenomenal. I did not have a plane, but I had something even better...a friend with a plane. Jim D. was my first flying friend and we bonded pretty much right away over stories of mistaking one lever for another, being unable to find the airport, and in general managing to embrace the mysteries of flying without experiencing that severe level of competence that I fear will take away some of the joy of breaking from the ground. After flying in our offices for a few days Jim and I decided to get night current together. I am still not completely sure about the FAA view of this...but a pilot must have 3 landings at night in the last 90 days to carry passengers. Now, if two pilots are not night current can they go up and get current together? Is one a passenger? If so, there is trouble and I want you to remember that all that I write is fiction. I am in fact a spectacular pilot with preternatural skills and I have never taken a wrench to my plane or violated one of the myriad Federal Aviation Rules (FARs) designed to keep me (and you) safe.
The plane lived on the grass, off the runway of the oldest continuously operated airport in the United States, College Park (CGS). We took the Metro to the airport, and it was most excellent to be zipping through the underground with our pilot bags and headsets, knowing we were about to embark on a much cooler mode of transport. Since the 9-11 attacks the completely misguided powers that be decided we would all be safer if small planes were heavily regulated in the DC area. They insist on a screening process before you can fly in the FRZ (flight restricted zone). This was a bit of a bummer for the small airports in the FRZ since it meant there was suddenly very little traffic. I dealt with the paperwork the day I got to DC and as we headed for the plane I was equipped with my recently issued secret code word that would get me an FRZ squawk code.
The Cherokee 140 is a really cute little plane. It has tricycle gear, which means the nose wheel is up front. There is a single door into the four seat cabin and for mysterious reasons this is on the co-pilot's side. Jim and I trooped up the wing root to deposit our gear and don headlamps. We did the preflight in the dark but warm evening as shadows at the edges of the airport began to mill around. We climbed in, Jim in the left seat and me in the right. Jim would give me a run down of the plane as we headed to Fredrick (FRD) to do our night landings. The plane did not feel substantively different than the three P28As I had flown in training, but this was emphatically not a rental plane. It had all the hallmarks of an owned and well loved family plane. Kids headsets in the rear, notes stuck to the panel and seats and seat belts set up for the usual occupants. I would play merry hell with this order over the next 12 months.
I called Potomac Approach and spoke of secret codes, destinations, souls aboard and our sincere desire to obey all the laws of our union. I was issued the call sign 'blue strike leader' and told to squawk 4309. Or something along those lines. We hopped in and Jim started up the smallest of the Cherokees. We taxied across the grass and in the bouncing taxi light the moving shadows became a bunch of deer browsing at the edge of the runway. In negotiating the uneven terrain I was particularly happy to have a steerable nose wheel. When we made the radio call to head to the run up area the FBO sent out a golf cart with a light to scare them back into the woods. This service made landing after midnight (when they were no longer lounging around the airport) a very problematic affair. As we lined up Jim explained his somewhat unorthodox technique for getting airborne. He runs it up with the brakes on, lets go and starts the roll. At 60mph he yanks sharply on the Johnson bar to put in 15 degrees of flaps. This boots the airplane into the air like a Garo Yepremian touchback bound kickoff. Not a bad idea in a somewhat underpowered airplane, in the dark, with trees at the end of a runway...on a warm night. All in all I was glad of every bit of altitude as we climbed past the northwest end numbers.
As airplanes go the 140 is a pretty basic beast. It gets you off the ground, carries four really small people, easily cruises well beyond your bladder and is dead easy to fly. The dead easy part is because it has a very stable design that dearly wants to fly straight. It will turn, and there is not a bit of heaviness to the controls, but it is not a very nimble type. The most unusual thing relative to other planes I have flown is that the elevator trim is on the ceiling. That's right, a crank is sitting smack in the middle of the cabin roof. It is craftily labeled with arrows to tell you which way to turn to get the nose to go up. This is a good thing, because I am here to tell you that my brain has no clear idea what should result when the crank is turned. It is a testament to the incredible flexibility of my brian that even after a year of flying the 140 it was a 50/50 proposition when I reached up to crank without looking up to read. Once the trim is dialed in the plane flies straight and true with virtually no control inputs.
The 140 racing down the runway.
The night landings were just a blast. Jim did the first one and then we alternated. Because my brother has a plane and hates to fly right seat I have a lot of time flying from the co-pilot's station. The 140 offers a clear sight picture on landing and it was a simple matter to get a nice stabilized approach going. This particular Cherokee does have the 'Hershey bar' wing which has a tendency to float if you are a little fast. The wing has so much lift that coming in just 5 MPH over the spot landing speed will have the plane cruising along in ground effect a few feet off the ground instead of settling well. Or, if you are an enthusiastic flarer the plane will pop up a dozen feet before settling rather firmly. The landing gear is tough though, and the plane can take the drop.
All in all this trainer is an absolute joy to fly. I put 48 hours on it in a year and flew through snow showers, rain and wind, to destinations up and down the east coast. The plane had no trouble fitting my spouse and daughter and enough fuel to hit New York City. It did give me a scare twice. Once on a very hot day I had full fuel and just my own fat self, but I rotated early and mushed for 500 feet or more. I corrected by lowering the nose but managed to scare the pee out of myself by barely missing the trees and construction cranes at the end of the runway. On another departure, with three little kids aboard, I took off to find the airspeed indicator was dead. So was the altimeter. And the vertical speed indicator. Quick...what was wrong? The usual...a bunch of vile bugs had built a home in the pitot static system. I did not realize that I would be nervous landing without airspeed. Short runway, trees to miss on approach and a plane full of kids meant I had enough sweat for a hot day. It ended well and was easily fixed with a piece of copper wire.
So...high marks for getting off the ground. It is a basic plane, but at $18-25K it is plane that will serve you well and very cheaply.
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