A staple of the general aviation fleet, the Piper PA-28 series is among the easiest types to own. Plentiful spare parts, widespread qualified maintenance, and do-it-all flight characteristics make it a true Jack of all trades. Accordingly, it comes as no surprise that some 33,000 examples have been produced – and continue to be produced – since its introduction in 1960.

Over the years, the PA-28 has morphed into many subtypes and derivations. From the two-seat, 140-horsepower Cherokee 140 to the big six-seat, 300-horsepower Cherokee Six, the basic design spans a wide range of performance and capability. 

• READ MORE: Plane Facts: Piper PA-28s

This particular example is one of the most highly regarded engine/airframe pairings. With four seats and the 180-horsepower Lycoming O-360, it provides a fantastic blend of performance and economy. With only 2,465 hours on the airframe and 464 hours since major overhaul of the engine, it’s likely to provide its next owner with trouble-free flying for years to come.

While there are less expensive Cherokees out there, few combine a low-time airframe with such a nice interior and modern panel. With clean, neutral colors and intact trim pieces, the cabin presents well, particularly for a 58-year-old airplane. 

The panel has been modernized with some of the latest Garmin avionics. A GNX 375 provides GPS and transponder duties, as well as ADS-B in and out. This feeds data to a GI 275 HSI, and a GTR 200 provides primary radio duties. 

With this panel setup, the new owner could add a single GI 275 attitude indicator to completely eliminate the airplane’s vacuum system. This would add functionality, increase reliability, and save significant weight in one shot. 

Well maintained with current IFR certification and complete logbooks, this Cherokee provides a well-balanced set of strengths with well-known and well-liked flying qualities to boot.

• READ MORE: Flying Over An Egyptian Air Base

You can arrange financing of the aircraft through FLYING Finance and quickly calculate your monthly payment using the airplane finance calculator. For more information, email info@flyingfinance.com.

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But as planes got faster, it became clear that aircraft needed some kind of enclosure to protect the pilot from the airstream. So, planes were given enclosures, and those enclosures were by necessity given doors. There are a few unspoken rules about doors. One, they don’t work very well in general, and two, airplane makers are all for putting as few of them on their planes as possible. It seems crazy, but the practice of shortchanging owners on the number of doors is rooted in a few commonsense concerns. Doors are heavy, hard to get to work well, and for low-wing planes, they require additional structure on the part of the wing that gets walked on, for obvious reasons.

Finally, doors aren’t as structurally integral to the fuselage as having no door is, so planes are automatically at least a bit stronger the fewer doors they have. So, putting just one door in a plane, as you see on many Piper, Beechcraft and Mooney single-engine models, is done to save weight, cost and complexity and to maximize the structural integrity. And while doors have gotten better, thanks to better manufacturing methods that yield closer tolerances and a better fit, the struggle is real, both for manufacturers, which need to figure out how to make a good-fitting, light and durable door, and for pilots and their passengers, who get to fight to make do with the few doors they’ve got.

• First airplane doors: Perhaps the Avro Model 12, which was the first plane with an interior
• Doors grow in popularity: Mid-1920s
• Cheat code: On several models, pilots were in the open and passengers inside an enclosure
• Door-making challenge: No suitable materials to make windows
• Window/door breakthrough: The invention of acrylic glass in the early 1930s
• Popular enclosure type: The bubble canopy
• Door on bubble canopies? The canopy itself either hinges open or slides rearward
• Potential safety risk? Canopies can open in flight, sometimes leading to a fatal crash
• Doors become popular: 1930s, popularized on cabin-class biplanes and monoplanes
• Material used for the doors: Usually the same materials as the rest of the plane
• Early cabin biplane: Beechcraft D-17 Staggerwing
• Max occupants: 5
• Number of doors: 1
• 1930s innovation that complicated doors: Pressurization
• 1930s airliner: Douglas DC-3
• Number of passengers: Up to 32
• Number of doors: One
• J-3 Cub of mid-1930s: One Dutch door for both occupants
• Advantage: You can fly with it open
• Ercoupe of 1930s: First popular slide-back canopy
• Advantage: Roll it back in flight
• First modern piston single: 1947 Beechcraft Bonanza
• Number of seats: 4
• Number of doors: 1
• Ultimate Bonanza expression: Current G-36 Bonanza
• Number of seats: 6
• Number of doors: 2 (progress!)
• Most popular plane: Cessna 172
• Doors? 2
• Other popular ’60s planes: Piper PA-28
• Doors? 1
• Position of door: On the passengers’ side
• Reason: Unknown
• 1970s innovation: Beechcraft Model 23 Sundowner
• Doors? 2! One on each side
• Safety concern: Door popping open in flight
• Level of risk: From the door being open, almost none
• Reason for increased risk: Pilot panic over the open door, loss of control
• Airliners number of doors: Often up to three
• Used for boarding and deplaning: Just one
• Reason: Jetways are set up for one-door operations
• Exception: Airbus A380 jumbo jet
• Boarding doors: Three
• Reason: Saves a lot of time when boarding as many as 500 passengers
• Time to board full A380 flight: As little as 20 minutes
• Early Cessna 172 issue, circa 1956: Poor door functionality
• Early Cirrus SR22 issue, circa 2001:Poor door functionality
• Number of doors on six-passenger TBM introduced in 1990: One
• First year pilot-side door offered as an option: 2002
• Cost: Around $50,000
• Added weight: Around 75 pounds

This article was originally published in the May 2023 Issue of Plane & Pilot. Subscribe today so you don’t miss an issue!

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