There’s never a shortage of Pipers at STOL competitions, but they don’t generally come with low wings. The National STOL Series caught this example of airmanship at one of its recent meets and observed the following: “Better STOL landing in a Piper Cherokee than a lot of people in Super Cubs. Practice, hone, and refine your skills.” That’s a PA-28-180 “Piperzilla” registered to Jeff Abrams from Ocala, Florida, and according to the registration it appears to be stock but not quite. Abrams, who’s 71, says it has vortex generators, gap seals, and an AoA indicator among a total of about 20 STC’d mods that make it a STOL competitor. He competes in the Touring Class in the National STOL Series.
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Love it! Go man!
Impressive but completely denigrated buy lack of how.
Several years ago, at the Thomasville, Ga annual fly in, I saw a Cherokee that had been converted to a taildragger. Looked very odd. In fact just take the nosewheel off this article’s picture and move it to the rear, move the main gear more forward, and you’ve got it.
When loaded to gross, the PA28 family are adequate performers with IMHO the retractables leaving much to be desired. The stiff leg Cherokees are quite sprightly when lightly loaded and the fat “Hershey bar” wing keeps flying quite some time in the flare. These machines are popular where gusty winds and crosswinds are common, due in part to the wide track gear and responsive nose wheel steering.