Each of these planes have survived decades of use. My favorite Cherokee in our fleet has over 16, hours on the airframe, with its entire life here in Alaska, operating as a cargo-hauling, Part flying beast.
It still flies straight and true, as if fresh from the factory. Originally from Corinth, Maine, Jacobs bought a Cessna at age In the spring of , Jacobs sold her car and used the money for fuel to fly her solo from Maine to Anchorage, Alaska.
The trip took over 60 flight hours, and she often slept in her plane or in a tent. Jacobs currently has a little over 1, hours. Send questions or comments to. The Cherokee Six story really begins in , when Piper hired leading designer John Thorp of Sky Scooter and T fame to conduct a preliminary design study for an all-metal airplane to replace the Tri-Pacer.
At that time Piper was committed—philosophically, at least—to metal monocoque airframes, and was already building the Apache and about to introduce the Comanche. A friend who owned a fixed-gear Saratoga called his airplane a flying pickup truck. Having flown both, I think the SUV analogy is pretty close—and it turns into a pickup truck if you take the passenger seats out. The Saratoga appeared in , as a fixed-gear, six-seat single based on the earlier PA Cherokee Six and Lance models.
In addition to making the airplane look better, the wing change improved handling and vastly simplified fuel management: the Saratoga has just two fuel tanks, one each in the left and right wings, holding a total of gallons usable.
The earlier airplanes had a more complicated system with multiple fuel tanks that led to fuel exhaustion and resulting accidents in some cases.
The Saratoga retained the club passenger seating arrangement, with two rows of seats facing each other behind the pilot and copilot, first introduced in , but used a conventional stabilator instead of the T-tail that had been used in the Lance.
The fuel-injected hp Lycoming IO engine was retained. In , the fixed-gear version was discontinued it was revived a couple of years ago under the name 6X. The SP and TC models remain available today. Sadly, the Saratoga figured in one national tragedy: John F. Kennedy Jr. That kills pilots in any type of aircraft! Walk up to a Saratoga for the first time—new or used—and it will impress you first with its size. I personally also find it, well, a little dull-looking. Passengers fall in love with it as soon as they see the wonderful interior, and pilots may start to be impressed as they load people into it.
The flight crew enters from a door over the right wing, as in Cherokees; but passengers have their own doors in the left side. There are front and rear baggage compartments—the former accessed through a cargo door in the nose, and the latter by folding down the back seats.
Either way, spotters are a good idea. Weight and balance can be an issue—with full fuel but no passengers, you may find your Saratoga forward of its CG limit. Useful load varies with the year and equipment—the original fixed-gear version could carry up to 1, pounds, making it almost impossible to overload. Late model retractables carry about pounds less, so you have to trade fuel for passengers or baggage. All Saratogas have a fuel drain under the belly that requires unusual preflight effort.
After that, though, you only have to deal with two under-wing drains. The rest of the preflight is conventional. The controls are well balanced, and the airplane does a good job in turbulence as well as smooth air. Saratogas have a reputation as forgiving airplanes. The original fixed-gear models cruised at around knots at 75 percent power. You can cut that to less than 15 gph at 55 percent economy cruise—but speed will drop. Early Models mostly had King radios and steam gauge instruments.
While helpful for pilots of the turbocharged models, who need time to come down from the flight levels, this may be overkill for normally-aspirated Saratogas. The Saratoga cabin is surprisingly quiet especially in the later airplanes, which have extra soundproofing. Brand new airplanes with the glass panel run over half a million. And regardless of age, no Saratoga is cheap to fly. Rebuilding the TIOAH1A used in current turbocharged Saratogas costs even more—and engine management on the turbo airplanes is critical.
Piper uses a fixed wastegate, which requires the pilot to adjust throttle settings to avoid overboosting the engine. Many Saratogas—and other airplanes with these engines—were grounded while their logbooks were checked, and in some cases the crankshafts had to be replaced. The usual suspects provide the usual modifications for Saratogas, including wingtips with landing lights standard on the latest airplanes , gap seals and fairings, modified cowls, and speed brakes.
He was right—I just wish I could afford one. Saratogas offer an extremely comfortable cabin for both pilot and passengers , and the latest avionics can be had for a price. John D. Ruley is an instrument-rated private pilot, and a freelance writer specializing in aviation and technology.
You can write to John at. I have seen the future. I have seen the future and it was installed in a Cherokee Six. Airframe and powerplant advances in General Aviation aircraft are virtually impossible to find. With few exceptions like the Cirrus, we are flying the same designs behind the same power plants that were designed in the s.
But avionics have made terrific advances. It would stand to reason that a tried-and-true airframe and powerplant combination combined with modern electronics would create the next generation of personal aircraft. That is essentially what the factories are selling.
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