I say go with the cheaper one, or if the price is the same, take the one with better avionics. You WILL appreciate a good HSI, glass cockpit or a GPS over the steam gauges when you get to do the IR, or when you get into some less then pleasant weather.
Piper's fuel cock is a nuisance (one more task, have to switch it left or right all the time), and due to the low wing takes less crosswind on landings. Also, in most low wing models you have to fiddle with the fuel pump on takeoff. etc. However, Piper usually has a more simple engine startup procedures (talk about the 172SP "three hands" startup) and tends to have less draught in the cockpit (real important in cold weather, trust me
). Newer Cessnas float quite a bit on landing, as they have a very low stalling speed. Pipers float less, but are easier to stall. On the other hand, you can hardly notice you've stalled a Piper (which can be dangerous), in a Cessna power-on stalls are quite dramatic, though harmless.
As with visibility - low wing means you don't see anything approaching you from below or opposite from the side you're turning to, high wing - the opposite. But for that reason high wing is better for "IFR" (I follow roads) navigation. Anyway, horses for courses - my favourite single engine now is a PA28R with a turbo engine, HSI and Garmin G530 - rather cheap to fly, pretty fast and fully IFR, and less complicated than, say, C-172RG which we have also in our flying club, which was my favorite before.
Both Cessna and Cherokee are docile, stable and forgiving airplanes. The differences are as above, but if I was making a choice it would come down to the two particular planes, and avionics especially.
04-02-2011, 08:25 AM
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