Another type in the logbook
April 19th, 2008This morning I got checked out in the Piper Warrior. It’s probably only here for a short period of time, but I wanted to compare the Warrior with the 172.
First impressions: It’s very stable! The wind was 22 gusting 27, and 20 degrees off the runway, but it felt really solid. The 172 controls feels “heavy”, but in the approach phase it seems more affected by gusts.
One door / Two doors – Didn’t really make any difference once I was in. In the event of ditching, although the Piper only has one door it opens wider and you don’t need to pull the seats back to get your feet out, so six and half a dozen.
High Wing / Low Wing – meh! In the Cessna, you can see out the back, in the Warrior you can see where you’re turning. The Cessna visibility is better for navigation. I’m not too keen on the centre post on the Warrior’s windscreen.
The Warrior seemed easier to land than the C172 (I’m not too good at that yet…). Cruise speed is 100kts, so it’s faster than the O-300 Cessnas. I prefer the manual flap lever rather than electric flaps too. This particular aircraft also has electric trim – luxury!
On the whole, I liked the Warrior. If it’s still here next week, we’ll probably try going away for the day.