Piper PA-31T Cheyenne I / IA / II / IIXL

The PA-31T Cheyenne is Piper's turboprop conversion of the Pressurized Navajo, and for two decades it was the cheapest way to put a family or a small board of directors into a pressurized, flight-level, two-engine turbine airplane. Design work started in 1965, the aircraft was certificated in May 1972, and production ran from 1974 to 1985. Roughly 823 airframes were built across the whole PA-31T line, which makes it one of the most numerous cabin-class turboprop twins ever produced — behind the King Air, but comfortably ahead of the Conquest, the Turbo Commander and the MU-2.

The formula is straightforward: the Navajo's proven fuselage and wing, two Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6As, a 5.5 psi cabin, and a price a long way below a King Air's. What you get is a genuine 270-knot machine on 80 gallons an hour that will fly five people and their bags 1,000 nautical miles above most of the weather, from a 3,000-foot runway. What you do not get is King Air cabin volume, King Air single-engine climb, or King Air support economics.

The line splits into three families. The Cheyenne II (originally just "Cheyenne", PA-31T-620) is the 620-shp PT6A-28 original — the fastest short-fuselage variant and the one most often traded, with roughly 521 built. The Cheyenne I and IA (PA-31T1, ~209 built) traded 40 knots and about 1,000 fpm of initial climb for 500-shp PT6A-11s, a more forgiving CG envelope and about $100,000 off the 1978 sticker; many owners prefer it for exactly that reason. The Cheyenne IIXL (PA-31T2, 81 built) stretched the fuselage two feet ahead of the main spar, added 474 lb of gross weight and 750-shp PT6A-135s, and is the load-hauler of the family.

Around 470 remain on worldwide registers. Piper no longer supports the type as a current product, but the PA-31 airframe underneath it is shared with a very large Navajo fleet, and that keeps structural and systems parts moving. The Cheyenne today is a legitimately good airplane owned by people who understand that the purchase price is the small number.

The frontmatter above describes a Cheyenne II, because that is what the used market mostly offers. If you are looking at a Cheyenne I, subtract roughly 25 knots of cruise, 1,000 fpm of initial climb and 300 lb of useful load. If you are looking at a IIXL, add about 900 lb of useful load and two feet of cabin, and expect to pay for it.

Piper published cruise for the Cheyenne II at an average cruise weight of 7,700 lb, and the numbers fall off with altitude in a way worth understanding before you plan a trip: 283 KTAS at 11,000 ft, 278 at 16,000 ft, 270 at 21,000 ft, and 253 at 29,000 ft. The corresponding maximum-cruise-power ranges on the standard 382 gallons — including start, taxi, climb, descent and a 45-minute reserve — are 905, 1,020, 1,155 and 1,380 nm respectively.

Those two tables together let you back out the fuel burn, and it is the honest way to do it because Piper never published a single headline burn figure. At FL210 the airplane covers 1,155 nm in 4.3 hours; taking the reserve out of the 2,559 lb of usable fuel leaves roughly 540 lb/hr, or about 80 gph as a block average including the climb. Down at 12,000 ft the same arithmetic gives something closer to 107 gph, and up at FL290 it falls to around 60 gph. That is a very large spread, and it is why Cheyenne owners talk about altitude more than they talk about power settings. The frontmatter pairs 270 KTAS with 80 gph deliberately: they are the same line of the same chart.

Climb is the Cheyenne II's party trick. Book rate of climb at sea level and max gross is 2,710 fpm, rising to 3,610 fpm at 7,200 lb. That is King Air 200 territory in a 9,000-lb airplane. The aerodynamic service ceiling is 31,600 ft, but the certified maximum operating altitude is 29,000 ft and that is the number that governs — the 5.5 psi pressurization system gives a 10,000 ft cabin up there, which is legal but not restful on a long leg. Most owners plan FL210–FL250, where the cabin sits around 6,000–8,000 ft and the specific range is still good.

Single-engine performance is the honest weak spot and the reason this airplane demands real training. OEI rate of climb at max gross is 660 fpm and the single-engine service ceiling is 14,600 ft. Both are legal and both are better than any piston twin, but neither lets you drift-down casually over the Rockies at gross weight. Runway performance is genuinely good: 1,980 ft over a 50-ft obstacle at max gross, and 1,860 ft to stop over 50 ft with reverse. Accelerate-and-stop distance is 3,300 ft, which is the number that should size your runway, not the takeoff figure.

Cheyenne II, at 9,000 lb max takeoff, a factory equipped empty weight of 5,477 lb and 382 gallons (2,559 lb) of usable fuel. Useful load is 3,523 lb, and the binding constraint is usually the 7,200 lb maximum zero-fuel weight rather than gross weight — that caps cabin load at roughly 1,723 lb no matter how little fuel you carry.

Two things fall out. First, the Cheyenne II is a genuine full-fuel five-place airplane, which puts it ahead of most single-engine turboprops and every cabin-class piston twin. Second, the eighth seat is a paperwork seat: filling all eight with adults puts you at the zero-fuel-weight limit with roughly 260 gallons and an 800-nm leg, in a 50-inch-wide cabin.

The Cheyenne IIXL answers both: 9,474 lb gross, a 7,600 lb ZFW, 4,428 lb of useful load and two extra feet of cabin. It carries six adults with bags and full fuel, which the short-body aircraft cannot, and it is the variant to look at if the mission is people rather than distance. The Cheyenne I gives up about 300 lb of useful load and — in pre-IA aircraft without tip tanks — 82 gallons of fuel, dropping full-fuel range to around 850 nm.

These are sea-level standard-day figures. At a 6,000-ft density altitude the accelerate-and-stop distance grows past 5,000 ft and single-engine climb at gross gets thin; plan on leaving fuel behind rather than passengers.

Related pages: Piper PA-42 Cheyenne III / IIIA, Piper PA-42-1000 Cheyenne 400LS, Piper PA-31 Navajo / Chieftain, Beechcraft King Air 90/200, Cessna Conquest I/II, Mitsubishi MU-2, Rockwell/Gulfstream Turbo Commander, Piper M-Class Turboprop, Aircraft Valuation Methodology, Engine Overhaul Pricing, GA Insurance Underwriting, Maintenance Ecosystem, Business Travel, Cross-Country Flying

Business travel (8/10). What the airplane was built for and still good at it: five or six people, 1,000 nm, above the weather, into airports a light jet will not take. It gives up cabin volume to a King Air 200 and outright speed to a Conquest II, but undercuts both on acquisition by a wide margin. Held back from a 9 by the narrow 50-inch cabin and a jet-adjacent operating budget.

Cross-country (8/10). 270 KTAS and 1,155 nm with reserves covers most of the continental United States in one or two legs, with pressurization, boots, radar and a real autopilot. At FL230 you are above most of what stops a piston twin.

Cargo hauling (6/10). The IIXL is genuinely useful — 4,428 lb of useful load, a 200-lb rear compartment plus a 300-lb nose bay, 150 cubic feet total. No clamshell freight door, and 50 inches of cabin width limits what fits; feeder-freight operators chose Navajos and Caravans instead.

Surveying (6/10). High ceiling, five-hour endurance, stable platform, and a fuselage that has accepted camera ports and antenna mounts on plenty of survey and air-ambulance airframes. Loses points on cabin access and cost per hour.

Backcountry (2/10). Retractable gear, low prop clearance, a 5.5-psi pressure vessel. Happy on a 3,000-ft paved strip; not a backcountry airplane.

Local fun flying (2/10). Around $900/hour direct and two engines to start, warm and cycle.

Flight training (1/10). Type-specific transition and recurrent only, at SimCom or a Cheyenne-experienced provider.

Aerobatics (1/10). Normal category pressurized transport. No.

Cheyennes left the factory with 1970s and 1980s corporate panels — Bendix/King Gold Crown, Collins Pro Line, and a Sperry SPZ-200 or Collins autopilot and flight director. Much of the fleet has since been modernised, and the gap between an original panel and a refreshed one is the largest avionics variable in the market.

• Original / lightly updated. Steam gauges, ADF and DME, an ageing King or Collins autopilot, an ADS-B Out box added in 2019. Legal and flyable, and expensive the first time a display or servo fails — much of this equipment is out of production and repaired by only a handful of shops.
• Mid-tier refresh ($80,000–$180,000 installed). Dual Garmin GTN 650Xi/750Xi navigators, GTX 345 with ADS-B In and Out, GDL weather and traffic, and the original autopilot retained and overhauled. The most common and most cost-effective path, and what most sellers have done.
• Full glass ($200,000–$350,000+ installed). Garmin G600 TXi or G500 TXi displays, dual GTN Xi navigators, digital engine indication, synthetic vision, and a modern digital autopilot retrofit such as a Genesys S-TEC 2100 — a factory-integrated autopilot STC is not universally available for this airframe.

An airplane whose autopilot has been overhauled or replaced is worth materially more than one whose autopilot "works fine". Single-pilot IFR in a 270-knot pressurized twin without a dependable autopilot is not a mission to plan.

• Blackhawk XP135A engine upgrade. Factory-new PT6A-135A engines replacing the original PT6A-11 or PT6A-28, approved for the Cheyenne I, IA, II and IIXL, with no airframe modification and negligible weight change. Resets both engines to zero time under warranty, adds substantial climb and cruise, and materially lifts resale — but it is a seven-figure decision on a six-figure airplane and only pencils out on a clean, low-airframe-time example.
• MT-Propeller five-blade composite props. STC'd for the PA-31T with PT6A-11, PT6A-28 or the Blackhawk PT6A-135/-135A. Owners report a dramatic drop in cabin noise and vibration; ground clearance and erosion behavior also improve. Commonly paired with the Blackhawk conversion. Four-blade conversions are cheaper with similar benefits.
• Tip tanks (Cheyenne I). Standard from the IA onward and retrofittable to earlier Cheyenne Is. Takes usable fuel from 300 to 382 gallons and adds roughly 300 nm.
• Gross weight increase kits and aerodynamic cleanups. Vortex generator and drag-reduction packages have been offered over the years; verify the paperwork and flight manual supplements are complete and aboard.

See Maintenance Ecosystem. This is where the Cheyenne's real cost lives, and where buyers most often underestimate.

• Parts availability: good. The airframe shares a great deal with the much larger PA-31 Navajo fleet, and Piper has historically manufactured unavailable items on request. The PT6A is the best-supported turboprop on earth. Cheyenne-unique items — pressurization components, some interior and control-system parts — are the slow ones.
• Mechanic familiarity: specialist. A general-aviation A&P can do much of the airframe work, but the engines, pressurization and fuel controls want a turbine shop that has seen Cheyennes.
• Annual / phase inspection: $18,000–$30,000 for a clean year; $45,000–$80,000 in a year that turns up gear, pressurization or boot work.
• Hot section (per side): $40,000–$50,000 at 1,800 hours.
• Overhaul (per side): $250,000–$300,000 at 3,600 hours. Budget roughly $550,000 for the pair — and note that this is the per-engine figure doubled, not a pair price doubled again.
• Propellers: overhaul at $12,000–$20,000 per side depending on blade type; composite five-blade sets cost more and last longer.
• Engine programs: P&WC ESP and JSSI both cover the PT6A-28 and convert the overhaul and HSI events into an hourly rate of roughly $150–$220 per engine hour. Enrolment is not universal on this type the way it is on King Airs, but it is strongly protective of resale.
• Direct operating cost: roughly $850–$1,000 per hour including fuel, maintenance, and engine and prop reserves. Fixed costs — hangar, insurance, training, subscriptions, database updates — add $50,000–$65,000 a year. At 150 hours a year, a realistic all-in budget is $190,000–$220,000.

The blunt version: you can buy a Cheyenne II for the price of a nice used Bonanza and a house, and then spend the price of the Bonanza again every year running it. It is a genuinely good airplane for people whose mission justifies that, and a genuinely bad idea for people hoping it will not.

See Aircraft Valuation Methodology for the general framework. Cheyenne-specific notes:

Engine time dominates everything else. A PT6A-28 overhaul runs roughly $250,000–$300,000 per engine, so a run-out pair is a $500,000–$600,000 liability against an airplane whose typical asking price is around $700,000. This is the arithmetic that produces the market's characteristic shape: a mid-time, program-enrolled Cheyenne II can ask twice what a run-out one does, and the run-out one is not a bargain. Hot section inspections land at half TBO — roughly $40,000–$50,000 per side — and a fresh HSI is worth close to what it cost.

Indicative 2025–2026 asking prices:

Controller and Trade-A-Plane listings through 2026 have run roughly $520,000 to $1.49 million across the family, the top of that band being Blackhawk-converted aircraft on five-blade props with modern panels.

Value drivers, in rough order: engine time and program enrolment; the Blackhawk conversion; avionics generation and autopilot condition; airframe total time (not life-limited, but a 12,000-hour ex-charter airplane inspects very differently from a 5,500-hour owner-flown one); damage and corrosion history; boot and paint condition; and complete AD paperwork. A Cheyenne with a thin logbook is worth substantially less than one with fifty years of records.

For a fifty-year-old pressurized turbine twin the Cheyenne's AD burden is modest, and AOPA's own type assessment says as much. Piper's use of epoxy primers and extensive anti-corrosion treatment has kept airframe corrosion rare compared with contemporaries. That said, three items dominate any pre-buy.

AD 2017-02-06 — wiring below the main circuit breaker panel (PA-31T, T1, T2, T3 and PA-31P-350). This is the important one. On 29 July 2016 a PA-31T air ambulance broke up in flight after an in-flight fire; the NTSB traced it to chafing between an electrical wire and a hydraulic line in the floor beneath the main bus tie circuit breaker panel. When investigators inspected six other PA-31T-series aircraft they found electrical lines in direct contact with hydraulic lines on all six. The NTSB issued an urgent recommendation and the FAA issued the AD on 7 February 2017, requiring repetitive detailed visual inspections of that wiring. Verify compliance, verify the last inspection date, and verify the shop actually got eyes into the confined space rather than signing it off from above. This is the single item that most deserves a specialist's attention on any Cheyenne pre-buy.

AD 2009-13-06 R1 (Amendment 39-16820, effective 3 November 2011) — nose baggage door. Applies to PA-23, PA-31 and PA-42 series including all the Cheyennes. Establishes life limits on safety-critical nose baggage door components, requires their replacement, and mandates repetitive inspection and lubrication of the latching mechanism and lock assembly. It was prompted by a series of incidents and fatal accidents in which the nose baggage door opened in flight. Recurring, and the parts have a calendar/hours life — confirm what has been replaced and when.

AD 96-21-03 — inboard aileron hinge bracket (PA-31, PA-31P, PA-31T and PA-42). Dye-penetrant inspection of the aileron spar and rib beneath the inboard hinge bracket for cracks, and replacement of the brackets with the improved P/N 74461-02/-03 parts. Terminating action once the improved brackets are fitted; most of the fleet is long since done, but check the logs.

AD 2001-06-01 — elevator structure. Consolidated three earlier ADs (including AD 80-02-15) requiring repetitive inspection and/or modification of the elevator structure on PA-31, PA-31P, PA-31T and PA-31T1 aircraft, and added a modification as a terminating action for the repetitive inspections. Confirm the terminating modification has been embodied rather than the aircraft still being inspected every cycle.

Beyond the ADs, the recurring pre-buy items are:

• Engine trend data. ITT margin erosion — more power lever needed for the same torque — is how a PT6A tells you the hot section is coming. Ask for the trend history, not just the last log entry.
• Mismatched engine times. A twin with 1,400 hours on one side and 2,900 on the other has an expensive, staggered future. Price it that way.
• Hydraulic system. Gear and brakes are hydraulic; leaks in the floor area are a maintenance nuisance and, per the 2016 accident, a fire risk where they meet chafed wiring.
• Pressurization and door seals. An airplane that will not hold 5.5 psi is telling you about seals, the outflow valve, or the pressure vessel.
• Stability augmentation system (SAS). Fitted to the original Cheyenne and the Cheyenne II to address light longitudinal stability at aft CG. It must work — an inoperative SAS on an aircraft that requires one is a no-go item, not a deferred squawk.
• De-ice boots, prop heat, and landing gear. Boot replacement is a five-figure job; check age and that prop and windshield heat draw current. High-cycle airframes wear gear uplocks, actuators and doors, so a gear swing is not optional.

See GA Insurance Underwriting and Insurance Costs. Owner-flown turbine twins are one of the harder classes to place; get a quote before signing a purchase agreement.

• Hull: roughly $9,000–$16,000 a year on a $700,000 agreed value, depending heavily on pilot experience.
• Liability: $4,000–$8,000 at $1M smooth; more for higher limits or passenger-carrying.
• Typical all-in owner-flown premium: $12,000–$22,000 a year.

Underwriters generally want 1,500+ hours total, 500+ multi-engine and meaningful turbine time; where turbine time is absent they will require a mentor pilot for the first 25–50 hours in type. Initial type-specific training at SimCom or another Cheyenne-capable provider is effectively mandatory, and annual recurrent is written into most policies. A first-time turbine transition pilot should expect a 30–50% loading in year one and should not assume coverage is automatic. On the other hand, the type has a long, well-understood claims history, and an experienced owner with recurrent training on file is straightforward to place.