Piper Saratoga

PA-32R Lance/Saratoga
Piper Saratoga II TC
Role	Personal use, air taxi & freight aircraft
National origin	United States
Manufacturer	Piper Aircraft
First flight	30 August 1974
Introduction	1975
Produced	1975-2009
Developed from	Piper Cherokee Six

The Piper PA-32R is a six-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 Ovation, Cirrus SR22, Cessna 206 Stationair, and Cessna 350.

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 engine 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.

Data from 1972 Piper Lance Owner's Handbook

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