Piper PA28-161 Warrior

The Piper PA-28-161 Cherokee Warrior is one of the most widely used single-engine, dual-control, low-winged, training and touring, four-seat light-aircraft in aviation history and is known among pilots for it’s reliability, comfortable cabin environment and stable flying characteristics. Anyone who finds the Cessna 152 a bit cramped will appreciate the extra elbow and leg room of both the Archer and Warrior where the front seats are more flexible and there is more space between the front seats.

It is part of the huge Piper PA28 Cherokee family of light-aircraft, of which, well over 30,000 units have been built since 1960, of which, nearly 6000 are the Warrior version, built continuously at Piper’s Vero Beach, Florida production-line factory between 1974 and 2012.

The Piper Warrior cruises at about 100kts at 2200rpm and it’s 160hp Lycoming O-320 engine burns around 32 litres of Avgas 100LL per hour. Maximum endurance in practice is about 5 hours allowing for a reserve remaining for possible diversion. Always consult the POH for exact numbers.

With a max gross-weight of 2440 lbs or 1106kg, G-CLWD is approximately able to carry full fuel, 3 adults and a small amount of baggage several hundred miles or maybe 4-up with less fuel depending on the situation.

Full fuel tank capacity is 180 litres, which can allow for nearly 5 hours in the air; if it’s only filled up to the metal tabs in each tank, you will have about 128 litres or 4 hours total endurance remaining. The baggage compartment behind the rear seats can take up to 200 lbs or 90kg of belongings and can be accessed from inside the cabin as well as via a rear exterior baggage door in the fuselage just behind the trailing edge of the right wing - always check actual mass and balance of the aircraft prior to every flight.

Take-off and landing on grass particularly, is very smooth in a Warrior due to the very effective shock absorbing nature of the undercarriage. Also, stall characteristics are very mellow and generally low-speed handling is very stable. The normal take-off speed is 60kts and best rate of climb is 80kts. For a short-field or soft-field take-off two stages of flap or 20 degrees of flap is used with a slightly lower take-off speed. In this case it is important to take the weight off the nosewheel during the take-off roll which will markedly improve the acceleration of the ground run.

One major feature of all Piper Warriors is that there is only one normal main entry and exit door on the right or starboard side, next to the baggage door. There are no access doors on the left or port side, only a very small opening DV window. All Piper Cherokee types are mostly made of aluminium alloy, except for a few engine and undercarriage parts and have an all-flying stabilator rather than stabiliser and elevator combination.

Compared to the high-winged Cessna 152, the low-wing design of the Piper Warrior dictates an electric fuel-pump is required, operated by a switch next to the electric Master-switch on the panel which is normally switched on during take-off and landing. Another major difference is the fuel tank selector which is to the left of the legs of the left seat pilot. The fuel selector positions are OFF, LEFT and RIGHT - which brings the threat of an asymmetric fuel situation if the tanks are not changed at regular planned intervals.

G-CLWD is a 1983 built, higher-gross-weight example of a Warrior II with a Sensenich fixed-pitch propeller and has 2 USB-A sockets either side of the instrument panel for charging a mobile phone or tablet whilst flying. The avionics kit includes two Garmin 255 Nav/Com, Garmin GTX-328 Mode S transponder, Garmin 340 audio panel, Narco 84 ADF, Narco 890 DME.

The Lycoming O-320-D3G engine which powers the Warrior II is a horizontally-opposed, air-cooled, 4-cylinder, 4-stroke piston-engine, aspirated via a carburettor and with two Slick magnitos helping to produce sparks. The 160hp output is produced from the 320 cubic inch or 5.2 litre engine displacement at full power for take-off, climb or go-around and it has a 8.5:1 compression ratio. Dozens of other aircraft types use essentially the same engine, primarily the Cessna 172. The O-320 engine has a very reliable track record over many years, the first examples were built in 1953 and it’s estimated that nearly 50,000 O-320s of almost 60 minor varieties have been built; it continues to be in production today.

Strictly speaking, the Cherokee part of the name was dropped in 1979, so G-CLWD, serial number 28-8316015 is officially a Piper PA28-161 Warrior II.

This all makes for a great hours-building aeroplane and for multi-day cross-country hire trips across the UK and international flights to Europe.

Our Piper PA28-161 Warrior II is a wonderful aircraft and a joy to fly.