Piper PA-32R


The Piper PA-32R is a six-seat, high-performance, single engined, 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 Ovation, Cirrus SR22, Cessna 206 Stationair, 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, PA-32RT-300 and PA-32RT-300T 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 model was eliminated, along with the 6X and 6XT, 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

;PA-32R-300
;PA-32RT-300
;PA-32RT-300T
;PA-32R-301
;PA-32R-301T
;EMB-721C Sertanejo
;EMB-721D Sertanejo

Accidents