One airplane.
Every learner 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 learners 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.
Read the arcs.
The airspeed indicator is the most colorful instrument on the panel, and every band is a limitation, not a decoration. These are the 140’s.
- Vs055
- Stall, landing configuration
- Vs164
- Stall, clean
- Vfe115
- Max flaps extended
- Vno140
- Max structural cruise
- Vne171
- Never exceed
White — flaps working range. Green — normal operations. Yellow — smooth air only. Red — never. Speeds in MPH, straight from the Owner’s Handbook; you’ll learn what every band means before you solo.
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.