Hi Mark;
As was already mentioned by Francis; the fit in this Cherokee will be tight.
I feel you need to know a few more things here before you buy this airplane. 1) On April 4, 2018 there was a fatal wing separation accident in a Piper Arrow (PA28R-201) that had been used by Embry Riddle Aeronautical University exclusively as a trainer.
In response to this the FAA published a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) asking for feedback from the industry and owners. I wrote about it for the Piper Flyer magazine. You can read it here: https://www.piperflyer.org/maintenance-technical/item/1284-piper-pa-28-and-pa-32-wing-spar-nprm-2018-ce-049-ad.html.
And here: https://www.piperflyer.org/media/k2/items/cache/af08ba4bce655d5aaad3672b255643fe_M.jpg.
I’m pointing this out because there seems to be a concern that Cherokees used in flight training have experience higher than average strains on the lower wing spar attachment fittings. Admittedly, the Cherokee 140 is most likely a lot less stressed than the Cherokee Arrow that suffered the wing separation, but it is a consideration.
I and other tech advisors for the Piper Flyer magazine have also written about buying airplanes. Here’s a good one. https://www.piperflyer.org/maintenance-technical/item/1259-pre-purchase-inspection-all-it-should-be.html.
The Cherokee 140 is a good simple airplane. And $23K seems like a good price. But in aviation especially, you get what you pay for. To make this a true cross country airplane you will probably need to install ADS-B Out avionics. Your #2 nav com may still work but it’s very old. And few modern panels still have a DME or an ADF installed. Those boxes are handy for IFR training so you still may need them but GPS navigators are the most used equipment in today’s airplanes. You can use a portable GPS rcvr/navigator such as an iPad but it’s not legal to use a portable unit as the primary navigation source for IFR flying.
I am only pointing out some of the issues you may face with this particular airplane. There are lots of Cherokees for sale; in my opinion, it’s always better to buy the best equipped airplane you can afford instead of buying one that needs upgrading.
Please let me know if you have any more questions.
Best,
Steve
But there’s really no way I can further advise you until you get a mechanic who is familiar with Cherokee 140s to take a look at it.
