Shane Blake
Member
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2019
- Messages
- 5
- Reaction score
- 2
Hello to all the other Piper owners.
I have recently returned to aviation. My wife and I have had a 1972 Cherokee 140 hangared in Wellsville, NY (KELZ) while living just over the border in PA for over 10 years. We purchased her around 2008 with less than a couple hundred hours since a field major overhaul out of the Rochester, NY area. My wife completed her private pilot and checkride in this plane around that time. I had about 40 hours into my training after going through a 8 month process to get a special issuance for my medical and progressed through the first solo prior to things going downhill in 2010.
My wife was pregnant at the time and was doing pattern work (luckily) when she began to lose power. Luckily she barely made it back onto the runway. It was determined that the fix was not going to be a quick and easy one. The engine would need a full overhaul. This at less than 300 hours since the last one was done. This wasn't an expense that we were prepared for (hence why we bought a plane with a low time engine to begin with). So the plane sat until Early 2018 while we were getting our daughter through her toddler years and into early childhood. During this time we were completely uninvolved with aviation other than paying the hangar rental fees to store her.
Early last year the mechanic servicing the Airport had contacted me asking about the possibility of fully tearing the engine down and getting her airworthy again. Either for our use or the possibility of setting her free and selling her. We decided that now was the time to commit to doing something with her. The overhaul yielded that the camshaft had lost a lobe and had failure of one cylinder. Columbia Aircraft Services in Bloomsburg, PA performed the work. They did a great job and also upgraded the engine to the 160 hp while the overhaul was performed.
We had determined that our primary goal was to pass the plane on to someone else after she was airworthy again. My concerns were that I was not interested in going through a Special Issuance once more as the process was very drawn out the first time. My wife remained somewhat uninterested with a young child at home to raise and my lack of interest for continuing. I had listed the plane on Barnstormers and received a number of contacts over the month we had it listed.
I have been up a few times since she has been airworthy with one of the CFI's that we had used in the past that was willing to help us keep the plane in the air until a sale was made. Doing so has reignited that spark that drew us to aviation to begin with. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the new BasicMed rules also would make a special issuance a non issue for me. The stars seemed to be aligning for a more permanent return.
We allowed our listing on Barnstormers to expire. My intention is to finish my private pilot as we had initially planned a decade ago. I have purchased the Sporty's private pilot course to get back up to speed and it felt great to see things from the air once again. This Cherokee may not be the long term solution to a family with one child for any decent travel options, but it still is a great stepping stone for getting us there.
Here are a couple of pictures of her:
I have recently returned to aviation. My wife and I have had a 1972 Cherokee 140 hangared in Wellsville, NY (KELZ) while living just over the border in PA for over 10 years. We purchased her around 2008 with less than a couple hundred hours since a field major overhaul out of the Rochester, NY area. My wife completed her private pilot and checkride in this plane around that time. I had about 40 hours into my training after going through a 8 month process to get a special issuance for my medical and progressed through the first solo prior to things going downhill in 2010.
My wife was pregnant at the time and was doing pattern work (luckily) when she began to lose power. Luckily she barely made it back onto the runway. It was determined that the fix was not going to be a quick and easy one. The engine would need a full overhaul. This at less than 300 hours since the last one was done. This wasn't an expense that we were prepared for (hence why we bought a plane with a low time engine to begin with). So the plane sat until Early 2018 while we were getting our daughter through her toddler years and into early childhood. During this time we were completely uninvolved with aviation other than paying the hangar rental fees to store her.
Early last year the mechanic servicing the Airport had contacted me asking about the possibility of fully tearing the engine down and getting her airworthy again. Either for our use or the possibility of setting her free and selling her. We decided that now was the time to commit to doing something with her. The overhaul yielded that the camshaft had lost a lobe and had failure of one cylinder. Columbia Aircraft Services in Bloomsburg, PA performed the work. They did a great job and also upgraded the engine to the 160 hp while the overhaul was performed.
We had determined that our primary goal was to pass the plane on to someone else after she was airworthy again. My concerns were that I was not interested in going through a Special Issuance once more as the process was very drawn out the first time. My wife remained somewhat uninterested with a young child at home to raise and my lack of interest for continuing. I had listed the plane on Barnstormers and received a number of contacts over the month we had it listed.
I have been up a few times since she has been airworthy with one of the CFI's that we had used in the past that was willing to help us keep the plane in the air until a sale was made. Doing so has reignited that spark that drew us to aviation to begin with. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the new BasicMed rules also would make a special issuance a non issue for me. The stars seemed to be aligning for a more permanent return.
We allowed our listing on Barnstormers to expire. My intention is to finish my private pilot as we had initially planned a decade ago. I have purchased the Sporty's private pilot course to get back up to speed and it felt great to see things from the air once again. This Cherokee may not be the long term solution to a family with one child for any decent travel options, but it still is a great stepping stone for getting us there.
Here are a couple of pictures of her:
