Buying a Piper Cherokee 235 Sight Unseen and Flying It 2,000 Miles In 2 Days!

We bought the cheapest Piper Cherokee 235 in the world! We bought this plane sight unseen cheap, and proceed to fly it 2,000 miles in 2 days all around the western USA. In my opinion this is the best single engine piston airplane for under $75,000. The useful load is insanely high, it is simple to fly, it has tons of power from the Lycoming O-540, and it cruises pretty fast! All way going well until we ran into our first problem landing in Utah... What do you all think of the raw polished aluminum? Should we do any mods?

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PLEASE NOTE: We are aviation enthusiasts. These videos are for entertainment purposes only. We are NOT qualified to give flying instruction. All of our videos, including this one, have been significantly edited down from the original full length raw footage. Many radio calls, checklist steps, and other procedures have been omitted to keep the videos a reasonable viewing length. Please speak to a CFI with any flying questions you may have.

[JRGarage]

Silver bullet 310 or Tin Can 235?!? What do you all think of the polished aluminum? Do you have any 235 experience? I you all enjoyed this one. Part 2 coming soon along with the other plane reveal 🙌

[eeyore.official]

The Cherokee 235 has always been my favorite GA bird, and I agree, it's criminally underrated. The newer 235s with the constant speed props are great too, but there's something about these original 235's that is so captivating. Would love to be able to own one one day!

[aaronbrown]

Great to see 8694W again. I got my high performance endorsement in her at KCHD on Halloween 2021! I understand there is quite the story of how she ended up in Chino. Would love to hear about it someday. Enjoy!

[jeffreyhughes]

The blue dye will sometimes cause the strainer to stick open. Just dabbing the dye out with a rag will fix the problem. — Cherokee owner

[curtcoltharp]

I owned a 1964 235 and it, overall was best plane I ever flew. Mine carried 84 gallons and I could carry 4 adults and fly 150 mph. I also had the fixed pitch prop and per book, it flew faster than the constant speed variant. In my opinion, the 235 beats the heck out of a 182 Cessna and for way less money. Mine had the motor gas STC that made the 13 gallon per hour burn more manageable. I also had a nice set of radios. Initially, it took a lot of cranking to start until I read the published start procedure calling for rotating engine with switch off and then I think you switched it to one mag for start and then both when it fired up. Fuel management was more detailed with 4 tanks and on long trips, I ran tips first 15 minutes each side and each one to edge of starvation. You had to watch the fuel pressure gage closely to avoid running out which I occasionally did if I got distracted. I wish I still had mine.

[ericsd]

Glad so see someone on the YTs showing how to calculate fuel burn like a old fashioned (normal) pilot.

[yamilcabrera]

Without being there and knowing for sure, The fuel leak is related to the fuel sump check valve that costs $15 and you need two quick fingers or ideally two people to unscrew and replace but many times if you push it consistently it may release dirt that can cause the leak. We replace one almost yearly on our warrior.

[joeglennaz]

The 235 is a great airplane. I flew it out of Scottsdale for a long time with the valley flying club that was in the late 90s. That thing is a beast I could take it fully loaded in the summertime to Flagstaff or Sedona and it would just jump off the ground.

[billcarrier]

I love the Cherokee 235 and there is a STC to convert the fixed pitch model that you have to a constant speed prop in order to get faster cruise speed and better climb performance. The amount of useful load that the Cherokee 235 has is phenomenal. And what other aircraft has 1000lbs of useful load while only burning 12.5 gallons per hour? Well, the answer is no other GA plane does.

[AmericanPiddler]

Only downside to the 235 is space in the cabin! I fly a 6/300 with the same useful load! Excellent choice!

[matthewstroud]

Owned a 65 235 for 5yrs. One of the best 4 seaters out there! Run your tips for 1hr - makes it easy to remember. Headwinds will kill it though lol love those planes!

[Accrd]

That plane in the back 22R is a Beechcraft Sierra, just like mine!! So fun as there aren't tons of them around. Solid planes with so much room and 2 doors!

[ChristopherYounger]

I purchased a 1965 PA-28-235 with the cosntant speed propr a year ago. Great little plane and especially easy to transition from a Cessna 172.

I base out of the airport just south of Chino, Corona Muni (KAJO). Chino does have some great planes.


My aircraft came with fuel leak as well. :) Fortunately mine was the quick drain--a $15 fix!

Good luck on the 235, it's a great plane. :)

[jerryn]

Used to own one in South Africa and you could load it up and if the doors would close it would fly, on the way back from a trip to Namibia we lost the motor and had to land on a farm road, much excitement for the locals and a farmer towed us back to his farm, had to get the engine replaced as the magneto drive shaft sheared and engine was close to time out, they upgraded engine to 250HP and performance was amazing, I sold it and went on to the 300 which was also a great aircraft

[Xanthira]

One very cool thing about the Cherokee 235. is due to the Lycoming O-540's low compression cylinders you can actually safely run ethanol free mogas. Running ethanol free mogas (which in many areas is over $2 cheaper/gal) you can actually get the fuel cost per hour under that of a Cherokee 180. Pretty cool!

[mustardseedsociety]

I think you made an excellent choice. {I'm assuming you have a Dakota} For one, the Piper Dakota was actually one of the PA28 series that was exempt from the wing spar AD in 2020 because the actual wing spar is thicker than on the lessor powered models of PA28. The only negative, is there is no BRS mod available for the Dakota like there is on a Cessna 182. Any C-182 built after 1964 can have a BRS installed if the owner wants it. On the Dakota or any Piper for that matter, no BRS mod is available.

[alrad]

Nice looking plane, and reasonable on the fuel consumption. Hopefully the issue is not too serious. Looking forward to the next video to see what else you bought. I like the polished look, but know it takes far more effort to keep it looking great, over a paint job. Stay safe guys!

[beacher]

Remember with the 4 tanks…. Fill the tips, drain the mains. When refueling, fill the tips first and when flying, use the mains first. I was told it has to do with the twisting force on the wing spar particularly if flying heavy. But check the manual.

[AllBikesGreatAndSmall]

This channel is so good. I really enjoy the content. Ignore any negativity, you guys are going to be very successful.

[djwilliams]

Owen does a great job at flying... it must be amazing to fly towards a runway at night, then have to turn that sharp and line up center of the runway! Excellent job Sir!