TF-POU - Piper PA-28-140 Cherokee Cruiser

  Information in English below

Almennur fróðleikur um Piper Cherokee flugvélar:

Eftir að Cessna C-172 kom á markaðinn árið 1956 voru Piper verksmiðjurnar í vandræðum þar sem þær höfðu enga flugvél í framleiðslu sem var samkeppnisfær.  Vélarnar sem þeir voru með í framleiðslu og voru í svipuðum flokki og Skyhawkinn voru Piper PA-22 Tri-Pacer vélarnar sem voru smíðaðar úr röragrind klæddar dúk, og seldust þær ekki vel eftir að Skyhawkinn kom fram.

Vinna við hönnun nýrrar flugvélar byrjaði árið 1958 og var sú vinna í höndum teimis sem samanstóð af Karl Bergey, Fred Weick og John Thorp. Vængurinn á hinni nýju flugvél var algerlega hannaður af John Thorp og þótti á sýnum tíma nokkuð merkilegur, þar sem hann var frekar þykkur og var alveg beinn. Þessi vængtegund á Cherokee fékk seinna viðurnefnið Hershey bar vængur (eftir súkkulaðistykkinu). 

Nýja flugvélin flaug fyrst árið 1960, og fór í framleiðslu árið 1961 sem Piper PA-28-150 og PA-28-160 Cherokee. Talan fyrir aftan bandstrik segir til um um stærð hreyfils, þannig að á fyrsta árinu var boðið upp á vélar sem voru annað hvort með 150 eða 160 hp. Lycoming O-320 hreyfli. Nýja flugvélin var lágvængja sem var með sæti fyrir fjóra  en einungis var ein hurð á skrokknum fyrir ofan vænginn hægra megin.

Árið 1962 kom fyrsta afbrigðið fram á sjónarsviðið en það var Piper PA-28-180 sem var með 180 hp Lycoming O-360 hreyfli og meiri burðargetu. Árið 1963 var búið til enn eitt afbrigðið, þegar PA-28-235 kom fram á sjónarsviðið með 235 hp Lycoming O-540 og talsvert aukna burðargetu miðað við fyrri gerðir. 

Árið 1964 setti Piper á markaðinn vél sem var hugsuð sem kennsluflugvél. Hún var byggð á fyrri vélum, en með minni hreyfli og fékk heitið PA-28-140 og var með 140 hestafla Lycoming hreyfli. Þessar vélar voru flestar seldar með aðeins tveimur sætum. Síðar var farið að selja þessar vélar með 150 hestafla hreyfli, en þær héldu heitinu PA-28-140 og hefur það valdið nokkrum ruglingi síðan.

Árið 1967 fór Piper að framleiða nýja útgáfu af vélinni sem var PA-28R-180 og PA-28R-200 Arrow. Þessar vélar voru með uppdraganlegum hjólum og skiptiskrúfu knúnar af 180 og 200 hestafla Lycoming O-360 hreyflum. Þegar Arrow vélin fór í framleiðslu, var framleiðslu á eldri PA-28-150 og -160 gerðunum hætt. Árið 1971 var Arrow vélinni breytt á þann hátt að 5 tommum var bætt við lengdina á farþegarýminu til að auka pláss fyrir aftursætisfarþeganna.

Árið 1971 kemur á markaðinn Piper PA-28-140 Cherokee Cruiser 2+2, sem var í reynd fjögurra sæta útgáfa af kennsluflugvélinn sem byrjað var að framleiða árið 1964. Árið 1974 er nafn vélarinnar einfaldað í PA-28-140 Cherokee Cruiser. Þó að þessar vélar hafi allar haft -140 nafnið, þá voru þær allar afhenntar með 150 hestafla Lycoming O-320 hreyfli.  Framleiðsla á þessu afbrigði lagðist af árið 1977.

Árið 1974 verða miklar breytingar á Piper vélunum.  Það ár er byrjað að framleiða Piper PA-28-151 Warrior, en sú flugvél var með lengri skrokk eins og var þá þegar í framleiðslu á Arrow vélunum og settur var nýr vængur á vélina sem var lengri en sá fyrri og mjókkaði nokkuð til endanna. Hreyfillinn var 150 hestafla Lycoming O-320. Þetta sama ár verður til Piper PA-28-180 Archer þegar sömu breytingar eru gerðar á henni. Árið 1978 er farið að framleiða Piper PA-28-161 Warrior II með 160 hestafla Lycoming O-360 hreyfli.

Alls hafa verið framleiddar um það bil 38.000 flugvélar af Cherokee ættinni.

Piper Cherokee og Arrow vélar hafa verið vinsælar meðal flugskóla og einkaflugmanna á Íslandi í gegnum árin. Alls hafa verið skráðar 38 vélar af þessum gerðum síðan fyrsta flugvélin, TF-AIT, var skráð árið 1964. 

     Information in English:

The aircraft that is now TF-POU was built as a PA-28-140 Cherokee Cruiser in 1974 and registered in the U.S. as N-56797.  In 1976 it was sold to Denmark where it took up the registration OY-POU. In 1983 it was sold to Iceland and was flown from Thisted in Denmark via Vagar to Vestmanneyjar on the 1st of June 1983. It was registered as TF-POU to a syndicate lead by Viðar Oskarsson on the 29th of June 1983. It was owned by the same syndicate until it had an accident and was seriously damaged when it flew into powerlines on approach to the airfield at Forsæti on the first of June 2002. Omar Bjarnason bought the wreck and restored it to better than new condition. It´s first flight after restoration was on the 30th of July 2008. Since then the aircraft has been based at Tungubakkar. 

A brief history of Piper Cherokee aircraft:

When the Cessna C-172 Skyhawk was introduced in 1956, Piper found themselves with out an aircraft that could compete with it. At the time, Piper was producing the Piper PA-22-160 Tri-Pacer which was made of tubes and covered with fabric. They almost stopped selling after the introduction of the Skyhawk.

In 1958 design work on the new aircraft started and it was designed by a team of three designers; Karl Bergey, Fred Weick and John Thorp. The wing of the new design was designed by John Thorp and was a little peculiar for the time, being rather thick and completely straight.  It was later dubbed the Hershey bar wing, as it was said to look like the chocolate bar!

The new aircraft first flew in 1960 and was put into production in 1961 as the Piper PA-28-150 and -160 Cherokee. The new aircraft was powered by a Lycoming O-320 of 150 horsepower in the -150 configuration and a Lycoming O-320 of 160 horsepower in the -160 configuration. The Cherokee was a low wing aircraft with tricycle undercarriage seating four people which entered the cabin via a single door on the right hand side above the wing. In 1962, Piper started to improve the breed by introducing the PA-28-180 which had a 180 horsepower Lycoming O-360 engine and an increased take off weight. The trend continued in 1963 when the PA-28-235 was introduced with a Lycoming O-540 of 235 horsepower and greatly improved load carrying capabilities.

In 1964 Piper introduced the PA-28-140 which was a derated version with a 140 horsepower Lycoming O-320 engine and was mainly sold with only two seats in the cabin and was aimed at the training market. Later on these aircraft were sold with a 150 horsepower Lycoming engine, but kept the -140 designation, something that has caused some confusion over the years.

In 1967 Piper introduced a new aircraft, the Piper PA-28R-180 and -200 Arrow. It was basically a Cherokee equipped with retractable undercarriage and a constant speed propeller. They were powered by a 180 or 200 horsepower Lycoming O-360 engine. When the production of the Arrow started, production of the older -150 and -160 version stopped.  In 1971, Piper changed the fuselage of the Arrow by increasing the length of the cabin by 5 inches.

In 1971 Piper start the production of the PA-28-140 Cherokee Cruiser 2+2, which was basically the same aircraft they had been producing for flight schools since 1964, but with four seats installed instead of two. Even though they had the -140 designation all of these aircraft were delivered with a 150 horsepower Lycoming engine. In 1974 the name of this variant was changed to Cherokee Cruiser. Production of this variant stopped in 1977.

By 1974 a lot of changes take place on the Cherokee production line. A new model is introduced, the Piper PA-28-151 Warrior. It is the old fuselage lengthened by 5 inches as had been done on the Arrow earlier, mated to a new wing that is longer and has a slight taper towards the wingtips. This new variant is powered by a 150 horsepower Lycoming engine. The same year, the old PA-28-180 gets the same upgrade and is after that known as the Archer. In 1978 the PA-28-161 Warrior II is introduced by changing the powerplant to a Lycoming engine of 160 horsepower.

In total, about 38.000 examples of the Cherokee family have been built.

Piper Cherokee and Arrow aircraft have been relatively popular with flight schools and private pilots in Iceland.  Since the first one, TF-AIT, was registered in 1964, a total of 38 of the Cherokee family of aircraft have been registered in Iceland.