The Piper PA-32R is a six-seat (or seven-seat), high-performance, single engine, all-metal, fixed-wing aircraft produced by Piper Aircraft of Vero Beach, Florida. The design began life as the Piper Lance, a retractable-gear version of the Piper Cherokee Six. Later models became known by the designation Piper Saratoga. The primary difference between the Lance and early Saratoga is the development of a tapered wing on the Saratoga, replacing the "Hershey bar" wing on the Lance that was a carryover from the Cherokee Six. Later Saratoga models provided updated/improved avionics, engine and interior touches but retained the same airframe design. Production of the Saratoga was discontinued in 2009. The Saratoga competed for sales with the Beechcraft Bonanza, Mooney M20, Cirrus SR22, Cessna 210, and Cessna 350.

Development

Until 1972, when the assembly line was destroyed in a flood, the Comanche was Piper's luxury, high-performance single. Afterwards, Piper began modifying its heavy-lifting single engined PA-32 Cherokee Six, adding retractable landing gear and designating the type as the "PA-32R". The PA-32R was built under license by Embraer in Brazil as the Embraer EMB-721 Sertanejo. Kits for the PA-32R-300 (six supplied), PA-32RT-300 (16) and PA-32RT-300T (two) were supplied to Chincul in Argentina for completion. They were designated the PA-A-32R and PA-A-32RT. For the 2008 model year, the Saratoga II HP (normally aspirated) model was eliminated, along with the 6X and 6XT (fixed-gear versions of the Saratoga), leaving the turbocharged Saratoga II TC as the only production model in the PA-32 line. Production of all PA-32 models ended in 2009.

Variants

Accidents

Specifications (Cherokee Lance PA-32R-300)