I'm in the process of getting my PPL and after a lot of thought have decided to purchase a plane. I like the idea of training in the same plane I will fly later. Once I have my PPL my 2 main missions will be...
1) Flying around locally by myself for sight-seeing and enjoyment
2) Flying myself, the wife, and minimal luggage approximately 300 miles for weekend trips.
I've done a lot of research on the 140 and can readily find the specs for it, but once we start talking about a 140 with the 160gp upgrade I don't know how to treat it... should I just use the stock PA28-160 numbers as my reference? To further complicate matters, the one I'm looking at has a tuned exhaust which I'm told should reduce fuel consumption slightly.
So... I'm hoping someone here has some experience with this that they can share. Clearly there are faster/more capable planes but for the missions I've outlined here are there any red flags jumping out at you? Approximately how long would a 300 mile trip take in one of these (ballpark obviously, since no two days are alike.)
1) Flying around locally by myself for sight-seeing and enjoyment
2) Flying myself, the wife, and minimal luggage approximately 300 miles for weekend trips.
I've done a lot of research on the 140 and can readily find the specs for it, but once we start talking about a 140 with the 160gp upgrade I don't know how to treat it... should I just use the stock PA28-160 numbers as my reference? To further complicate matters, the one I'm looking at has a tuned exhaust which I'm told should reduce fuel consumption slightly.
So... I'm hoping someone here has some experience with this that they can share. Clearly there are faster/more capable planes but for the missions I've outlined here are there any red flags jumping out at you? Approximately how long would a 300 mile trip take in one of these (ballpark obviously, since no two days are alike.)
