Normally I fly a Piper Cherokee, either an Arrow or an Archer. I have been known to pilot a Cessna on occasion, but I really prefer the Piper products. I think the control layout, stall characteristics, low wing, and wide landing-gear stance make them pleasant to handle. These characteristics, combined with their excellent in-flight visibility (and great air-to-ground visibility), contribute to good landing and ground handling characteristics.
My favorite aircraft to fly right now is the Piper Arrow. Although it only has 20 more HP than an Archer, once the gear is up it just wants to fly! That same gear provides a giant speed and/or altitude sink, when you need one, as well. It provides just a little bit of extra drag that helps make the airplane sink better when you pull the power off. I often think my perfect airplane would be an Arrow with an IO-540 under the cowl, instead of the existing IO-360. That would give it Dakota-like hauling abilities, with all the "wants to fly" and "speed brake" capabilities of the Arrow. Although I have not flown an Arrow-IV yet, I think prefer the Arrow-III to the Arrow-IV because of the T-tail in the Arrow-IV. The T-tail is more difficult to preflight, and it also lowers soft/short field performance since it is not in the prop slipstream. A plus, though, is the lack of trim changes as the landing gear and flap configurations change. It also means that the tail has to have more structure for the same rigidity as the normal tail, or suffers from less ridigity. My opinion may change once I fly one, but that is what I think for now.
The Grumman Tiger holds a bit of fascination for me. I admit that I have a tendency towards liking Tigers in the first place. However, it seems quite a neat airplane in its own right. It is as fast an an Arrow, but doesn't need retracts or a c/s prop to go that fast. I'd like to either spend some time flying one, and perhaps get a "checkout" in it. If you know of any for rent in the vicinity of Madison, WI, USA, please tell me!
Also on my short list of interesting Aircraft is the Socata Trinidad. It is a four-place retractable gear aircraft with an IO-540; as such it meets my "like an Arrow but with an IO-540" provision. It has trailing link-landing gear, dual doors, and other features that look good. The easy-accesibility instrument panels, trim wheel, fuel selector and other things make it look really nice for flying. It also has a pushrod based control system, which doesn't have a lot of slop. Unfortunately that means it also needs a bit higher control force to move the pushrods :(. The only thing that I don't like about this aircraft is that it might not be as general purpose as an Arrow is. I question its ability to get into and out of shorter fields, and I would be hesitant to operate it off of grass strips, even long ones. Because of the higher wing loading, flight in turbulence and under IFR conditions is supposed to be stable. There is also a gotcha though, similar to the hershey-bar wing cherokees. You need to watch your speed on final because the constant-chord wing really seems to bleed energy quickly as the AOA increases. Unlike the taper-wing on the newer Cherokees. This isn't a bad thing, but something to know about and watch out for -- After all, I have about 250 flight hours in a underpowered (150HP) hershey-bar wing cherokee 140!
The Commander 114B also holds interest for me. It has trailing-link landing gear, which I highly approve of. The mid-height cruciform tail has many of the trim advantages of the Arrow-IV's T-tail, without the disadvantages suffered by the full T-tail. It is high enough to be out of the airflow changes courtesy of gear and flap extension, but low enough to still receive some of the prop's slipstream for short/soft field operations. The roomy interior is also appealing! The choice of the IO-540 powerplant is also appealing. The newer A/C also have a larger fuel tankage (similar to the turbo-charged models) which gives you a great IFR reserve.
While I'm dreaming of expensive airplanes I probably can't afford,, I should mention the SIA Marchetti 260. This is a military prop trainer powered by an IO-540. It only has room for two, but face it, that is all you really can carry in most of the aircraft mentioned above when you go for full fuel and maximum range. As a bonus you get a stick instead of a wheel. Aerobatic capability (+/- 6Gs) and, if you are lucky, ordinance hardpoints! Great visibility, etc with a real canopy. I don't know what short field performance is like in this thing, though.
The last of the dreaming airplanes would be a North American T-28C. This is a post WWII carrier training aircraft. It has a big round engine for that wonderful sound and reliability and oil consumption! The -C variant is one of those designed for carrier landings, so it has really sturdy landing gear, maybe a tailhook, and is also of later production. Being a trainer, it does have seats for two! It is tricyle gear, so no problems maneuvering on the ground. And you can wear a helmet and everything while flying it :) While the A/C could be affordable, my guess is that maintenance on it is not. You can see these around for only $30,000 more than a nice 1980 Arrow-IV, or about the same price as the 300 HP Piper Lance.
Several years ago, I used to own part of an airplane, a Piper Cherokee 140, N5755U. The picture is one that Beebs took a long time ago, and that I grabbed. I don't have any pictures of my airplane. I was one-third of the owners of 55u, the other two being my friends Mike Litzkow and Paul Beebe. Eventually the other two guys stopped flying a lot and wanted to sell. It would have been nice to try and keep the airplane for myself, but it probably would have bankrupted me with maintenance costs. So, we sold it. All told, I miss owning an airplane that I can just take flying now!
I learned to fly in 55u, and did all my private training and most of my instrument work (including the checkride) in it. Perhaps that is why I like Pipers so much! I built some time for my commercial rating in 55u, but did a lot of the work in an Arrow, since the checkride needs to be flown in a complex aircraft.
If you see N5755U around, please say "Hi" for me!
