One airplane.
Every student at CLT Aviation trains in the same airplane: a PA-28-140 Cherokee based at KJQF (Concord-Padgett Regional), in the Charlotte area. It’s slow, forgiving, and exactly the kind of airplane that teaches you to fly.
PA-28-140 Cherokee
Based at KJQF (Concord-Padgett Regional)
- Rate
- $185/hour wet (fuel included)
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320, 160 hp
- Avionics
- Garmin GPS, dual nav/comms, transponder with ADS-B Out
- Cruise speed
- 108 KIAS
- Fuel
- 100LL, ~9 gph at cruise
Why this airplane
The PA-28-140 has been a primary trainer for sixty years. It’s stable in stalls, predictable in the pattern, and tolerant of the kind of imprecise rudder work brand-new students bring on lesson one. Low-wing visibility, fixed gear, fixed-pitch prop — every simplification helps when you’re learning.
Maintenance
Annual inspection on schedule, oil change every 25 hours, ADs current. The airplane is treated as a primary asset, not a fleet spare — when something needs attention, training gets paused, not squeezed in around the squawk.
Fly it on a discovery flight
About an hour at the controls, $200 flat. Best way to see if the airplane (and the operation) is right for you.