Piper Saratoga Fixed Gear (1980-1995)

The PA-32-301 Saratoga is what the Cherokee Six became in 1980. The certificate puts it plainly:

Same as Model PA-32-300 except for tapered wings, increased gross weight and other minor changes.

Three things changed. The semi-tapered wing replaced the Hershey-bar plank, taking span from 32.8 ft to 36.2 ft. Gross weight went up from 3,400 lb to 3,600 lb. And the fuel system grew to 107 gallons with 102 usable, in two wing tanks rather than four.

What did not change is the reason to buy one: a wide, flat-floored six-place cabin with a right-side cargo door, fixed gear that keeps insurance and maintenance modest, and a useful load that is about as good as a six-seat fixed-gear single gets.

It is the fixed-gear half of a pair. The retractable Saratoga SP on the same certificate is roughly 10 knots faster and carries about 200 lb less, costs meaningfully more to insure, and adds a gear system to maintain.

Every row is from TCDS A3SO. The frontmatter describes the PA-32-301.

Three rows on the old variants table were wrong and have been corrected. It listed a "PA-32-301FT Saratoga, 1993-1995, refinements" — the PA-32-301FT is the Piper 6X and was approved in 2003, thirteen years later, and is a different airplane derived from the Saratoga II HP. It also described the "Saratoga II" as a 1995-1997 successor to this airplane; the Saratoga II HP is the retractable PA-32R-301 and belongs to its own page.

Neither the 6X nor the 6XT has a catalogue page, and neither does the fixed-gear Turbo Saratoga. All three are real FAA models on this certificate. Recorded as gaps rather than filled here.

The late serials are worth a second look

The certificate's serial list for this model is unusual:

Manufacturer's Serial Nos. 32-8006002 through 32-8606023, and 3206001 through 3206019, 3206042 through 3206044, 3206047, 3206050 through 3206055, and 3206060.

The 32-80… through 32-86… block encodes model years 1980 to 1986 in Piper's format and is continuous. The later 3206… block is gappy — nineteen airplanes, then three, then one, then six, then one — and NOTE 7 lists 3206005 and 3206020 through 3206088 among the airframes not eligible for import certification to the U.S. If you are looking at a 3206… serial, check NOTE 7 before assuming it can be registered here.

A3SO gives no model years, and the 3206… block carries no year code, so the certificate cannot date the end of production. The page's year_range_end: 1995 was left as it stood rather than replaced with a guess, and it is not sourced.

Read this section as an indication, not as book numbers. Nothing in it is sourced, and the range figure in particular was computed against the wrong fuel capacity before this revision.

The certificated limits are sourced, and this is where the Saratoga differs usefully from its Cherokee Six ancestors:

These are indicated airspeeds, stated as such. Sections I through VI of A3SO print mph first with knots bracketed and the word CAS on every row; from Section VII onward the certificate prints knots alone and heads the block "Airspeed Limits (Indicated)". Our fields are _kias, so on this page there is no basis question and no conversion to decline — the numbers go in as printed.

Maneuvering speed is the weight-scheduled one and 134 knots is the figure at 3,600 lb, which is the house convention. A3SO publishes no lower-weight maneuvering speed for this model.

The old page carried 195 and 156, which match neither this section nor any other on the certificate.

One nuance on installed power. The certificate rates the airplane at 300 hp for a five-minute takeoff at 2,700 rpm and full throttle, but limits maximum continuous operation to 2,600 rpm and 294 rated hp on the standard two-blade propeller. Airplanes with the optional three-blade Hartzell carry no continuous derate at all. horsepower: 300 stores the takeoff rating, which is the house convention; the derate is a cruise limitation on one propeller option.

Recomputed on 102 usable gallons. The old table used 94 and understated both the fuel weight and the reachable range. Built on the frontmatter's 1,900 lb empty weight and 1,700 lb useful load, both unsourced generation-pass figures — weigh the actual airplane. Fuel is at 6.0 lb/gal, the density the certificate's own NOTE 1 arithmetic implies (107 − 102 = 5 gal against 30.0 lb).

Full fuel and four adults still leaves 400 lb of baggage — subject to the 200 lb baggage-compartment limit, so the rest has to go on seats. That is the practical shape of this airplane: it will carry almost anything you can fit through the door, and the compartment limit binds before the weight does.

The loading envelope narrows above 3,200 lb — from +83.5 to +95.0 inches at 3,200 lb down to +90.0 to +95.0 at 3,600 lb — so a full rear cabin with low tanks is the case to check.

• Flight Training (2/10): Too big and too thirsty for primary instruction; a reasonable high-performance transition airplane.
• Backcountry (2/10): Fixed gear helps, the low wing and the 36 ft span do not. Improved grass only.
• Business Travel (8/10): Six real seats, a big cabin and a stable IFR platform, at a lower operating cost than the retractable.
• Aerobatics (1/10): Normal category. NOTE 2's placard: "NO ACROBATIC MANEUVERS, INCLUDING SPINS, APPROVED."
• Cross-Country (9/10): 102 usable gallons and 3,600 lb of gross weight. With the fuel figure corrected, this airplane's legs are longer than the page previously claimed.
• Cargo Hauling (9/10): The best useful load of any six-seat fixed-gear single, with a cargo door.
• Local Fun (6/10): Docile and pleasant; 15 GPH is the limiting factor.
• Surveying (6/10): Carries any payload; low wing blocks the view down.

See Avionics Pricing Reference.

Parts (good). The IO-540 is superbly supported and Piper airframe parts come through the factory, aftermarket suppliers and salvage.

Mechanics (common). Any general aviation A&P can work a PA-32.

Annual cost:

• Routine annual: $2,500-$4,000
• Annual with typical squawks: $4,000-$8,000
• Engine reserve: $26/hour ($52,000 ÷ 2,000 TBO)
• Propeller reserve: about $3/hour
• All-in at 100 hours a year: $16,000-$22,000

Expensive items: IO-540 overhaul $52,000 at national specialty pricing · wing spar work, five figures per wing · exhaust system $3,000-$5,000 · fuel bladders $2,000-$4,000 per tank · constant-speed propeller overhaul $3,000-$5,000.

Overhaul pricing is the house figure from reference/engine-overhaul-pricing.md.

The price block is not sourced. It is inherited from the generation pass and asking prices are perishable.

Value adds: three-blade propeller · modern panel +$30,000-$60,000 · fresh engine +$20,000-$30,000 · documented spar inspection · cargo door.

Value detractors: high spar time -20-40% · run-out engine -$20,000-$30,000 · corrosion history -15-25% · a 3206… serial listed in NOTE 7 as ineligible for U.S. import.

Six-seat fixed-gear singles have been in demand since 2020 because the alternative — a current Cessna 206H — is a very different price.

Airworthiness directives. The PA-28/PA-32 main wing spar directive (AD 2020-26-16, as recorded elsewhere in this catalogue — confirm the applicable list for a specific serial against the FAA's own AD database rather than relying on this page) brought in a factored-service-hours calculation, an eddy-current inspection of the lower spar cap bolt holes at the threshold, and a life limit on unmodified spars.

Common problems:

• Wing spar condition. The biggest pre-buy item on any Cherokee-family airframe. Get the factored hours computed and the inspection status in writing.
• IO-540 cylinders. Borescope all six.
• Exhaust system cracks. $3,000-$5,000 every 800-1,200 hours.
• Fuel system. Two wing tanks, not four — bladder seepage at seams and sender units is still the failure mode. $2,000-$4,000 per tank.
• Stabilator and anti-servo trim. Check the travel and the tab rigging; the certificate specifies stabilator 14.5° up / 5.5° down with the tab 5° up / 8° down, which is a tighter envelope than the Cherokee Six's.
• Nose gear. NOTE 14 permits the wheel fairings, or the fairings and gear strut fairings together, to be removed on 32-8006001 through 32-8606023 — a common configuration change that should be reflected in the weight and balance.
• Seat rail pin engagement. Recurring Cherokee-family item.

• Hull: fixed gear keeps this in the cheaper band. BWI's published guidance for a fixed-gear single at a $100k hull is $1,200-$2,800; Trent's own fixed-gear binder came in at 0.91% of hull. See reference/insurance-costs.md.
• Liability ($1M smooth): $800-$1,200/year.
• Pilot requirements: typically 300+ hours total, 25+ in type, and a high-performance endorsement — the engine is over 200 hp.
• Against the retractable Saratoga SP, expect roughly half the hull rate, which over a decade is a meaningful part of the price difference between the two airplanes.

See GA Insurance Underwriting.