Piper Saratoga (PA-32R-301, 1980-2009)

The PA-32R-301 Saratoga SP is the 1980 replacement for the Lance: same six/seven-place Cherokee Six cabin, same retractable gear, but on the tapered wing that came in with the Saratoga and with the T-tail experiment abandoned. The certificate's own summary is "Same as Model PA-32R-300 except for tapered wings and other minor changes."

It is one of the most capable six-seat piston singles ever built — 155-plus knots, 102 usable gallons, a genuinely wide cabin and a right-side cargo door — and it is a complex, high-performance airplane with a gear system that wants attention and money.

Production ran to 2009. Late Saratoga II HP airframes were offered with factory Avidyne Entegra glass, which the certificate records as an additional installation-specific basis for S/N 3246218 and up.

Every row is from TCDS A3SO. The frontmatter describes the Saratoga SP.

Three claims on the old variants table were wrong and have been corrected. It dated the Saratoga II HP to 2002-2009 (the certificate approves it 26 May 1993 and its first handbook, VB-1551, is dated 31 May 1993); it described the Lance as having the semi-tapered wing (the Lance is Hershey-bar — the tapered wing arrives with the Saratoga, which is exactly what Section VII says); and it stated that the fixed-gear PA-32-301 and PA-32-301T were "covered under" the Cherokee Six page, which they never were. The fixed-gear Saratoga has its own page.

Two models on this certificate still have no catalogue page at all: the PA-32RT-300 Lance II and the PA-32RT-300T Turbo Lance II. Recorded as a gap.

Read this section as an indication, not as book numbers. Nothing in it is sourced.

The certificated limits are sourced, and they are what actually shape how the airplane is flown:

These are indicated airspeeds, stated as such. From Section VII onward A3SO heads the block "Airspeed Limits (Indicated)" and prints knots alone, where Sections I through VI print mph first with knots bracketed and the word CAS on every row. Our fields are _kias, so there is no conversion question on this page.

The 132-knot gear extension speed is the number that shapes IFR descents in this airplane. A clean, slippery retractable that will not slow down below 132 knots without planning is why speed brakes are a popular modification, and why an unplanned slam-dunk approach turns into a go-around.

Built on the frontmatter's 2,170 lb empty weight and 1,430 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).

This is the honest limitation of the airplane and it is worth being blunt about: full tanks and six adults is not a flight you can make. With 102 gallons aboard there is 818 lb of payload left, which is four adults and modest bags. Putting six 170 lb people in the seats means about 55 gallons and a 380 nm leg.

Against the fixed-gear Saratoga, the gear mechanism costs roughly 200 lb of payload and buys about 10 knots. Over a 500 nm leg that is about 20 minutes. Which side of that trade you land on is the whole Saratoga buying decision.

Where it genuinely shines is four adults, full fuel and 138 lb of bags for a 740 nm leg at 158 knots — a four-hour nonstop that covers New York to Chicago or Dallas to Denver.

Related aircraft: Piper Saratoga (fixed gear), Piper Lance, Piper Turbo Saratoga SP, Cessna 210, Beechcraft A36 Bonanza, Piper Arrow

• Flight Training (2/10): Not a training airplane, though it makes a legitimate complex and high-performance endorsement platform for an owner.
• Backcountry (2/10): Retractable gear, low wing, 36 ft span. Paved runways. The fixed-gear Saratoga or a Cessna U206 are the right tools.
• Business Travel (8/10): Six comfortable seats, 155-plus knots, a stable IFR platform and a professional look. Late Saratoga II HPs with factory glass are competitive with anything in the piston class.
• Aerobatics (1/10): Normal category. NOTE 2's placard: "NO ACROBATIC MANEUVERS, INCLUDING SPINS, APPROVED."
• Cross-Country (9/10): The airplane's whole purpose. 102 usable gallons, six seats, a big cabin.
• Cargo Hauling (7/10): A good useful load, but roughly 200 lb less than the fixed-gear airplane once the gear mechanism is accounted for, and a retractable is the wrong airframe for utility work.
• Local Fun (3/10): 18 GPH.
• Surveying (3/10): Low wing, complex gear, no advantage.

The certificate records the factory glass option as an additional certification basis for installation-specific items: the Avidyne Entegra system with a Mid-Continent 4300-411 electric attitude indicator, S/N 3246218 and up (Report VB-1885). If a listing claims factory Avidyne on an earlier serial, ask which STC it was installed under.

See Avionics Pricing Reference.

Speed brakes earn their place here more than on most airplanes. With a 132-knot gear limit on a clean airframe, getting down and slowed on an IFR arrival without shock-cooling the engine is a real planning problem, and the brakes solve it.

Parts (good). The IO-540 is superbly supported. Gear components — actuators, trunnions — are the narrow spot, and some carry long lead times.

Mechanics (common), with a caveat. Any general aviation A&P can work the airframe; PA-32R gear rigging and troubleshooting is a different matter, and it is worth flying to a shop that has done it before rather than paying a local one to learn.

Annual cost:

• Routine annual: $3,500-$5,500
• Annual with typical squawks: $5,000-$10,000
• Gear service at annual: $500-$2,000 in normal wear items
• Engine reserve: $26/hour ($52,000 ÷ 2,000 TBO)
• Propeller reserve: $3-$4/hour on the three-blade
• All-in at 100 hours a year: $22,000-$30,000

Expensive items: IO-540 overhaul $52,000 at national specialty pricing · landing gear overhaul $5,000-$10,000 · nose gear actuator $3,000-$5,000 · main gear trunnion $2,000-$4,000 a side · wing spar work, five figures per wing · three-blade propeller overhaul $4,000-$6,000 · exhaust $3,000-$5,000.

Overhaul pricing is the house figure from reference/engine-overhaul-pricing.md. It was previously $58,000 on this page, which is the house band for a turbocharged TIO-540; the normally aspirated IO-540 is $52,000.

The price block is not sourced. It is inherited from the generation pass; asking prices are perishable. The band spans 29 model years, which is why it is wide — that is calendar spread, not conflation.

Value adds: factory Avidyne Entegra +$30,000-$50,000 · GTN/G3X retrofit +$25,000-$50,000 · fresh engine +$20,000-$35,000 · speed brakes +$3,000-$5,000 · documented spar inspection · recent gear overhaul.

Value detractors: high spar time -20-40% · gear problems in the logs -10-20% · gear-up history · run-out engine -$25,000-$35,000 · legacy avionics -$10,000-$25,000.

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.

Two AD numbers previously on this page have been removed — "AD 2024-21-XX" and "AD 98-13656". Neither is a valid FAA AD number; directives are numbered YYYY-NN-NN, and the first carries a literal "XX" placeholder. The underlying subjects are real and are described below without invented numbers. Get the AD list for a specific serial from the FAA's own database.

Common problems:

• Landing gear system. The single biggest maintenance line and the reason this airplane costs more to own than the fixed-gear Saratoga. Nose gear actuators, main gear trunnions and sidebrace studs, hydraulic leaks and gear door rigging are all recurring. Budget $1,000-$3,000 a year, and have the gear swung and inspected at pre-buy by a shop that knows PA-32R rigging.
• Gear-up landings. The type has a higher-than-average rate, and many older airframes have a weak or absent gear warning. A gear warning upgrade is cheap insurance. A gear-up in the logs is a 20-30% hull-rate problem even after a proper repair.
• Main gear sidebrace studs. A repetitive inspection subject on PA-32R models; confirm the current requirement and compliance status.
• Wing spar condition. Factored hours and inspection status in writing.
• IO-540 cylinders. Borescope all six. On a K1G5D, the dual magneto is its own inspection subject.
• Exhaust system cracks. $3,000-$5,000 every 800-1,200 hours on the normally aspirated engine; considerably more on the turbocharged airplanes, where an exhaust coupling failure near the turbocharger is a fire risk and has its own directive history. See the Turbo Saratoga page.
• Fuel system. The certificate specifies two wing tanks, 107 gallons with 102 usable — not the Cherokee Six's four. Bladders, senders and the selector valve all want checking; a stiff selector is a squawk, not a quirk.
• Nose gear shimmy. As on every Cherokee.

• Hull: 1.5-2.5% of hull value annually. Retractable gear roughly doubles to triples the rate against a fixed-gear single — Trent's own binders put a fixed-gear Grumman at 0.91% and a retractable Mooney at 1.67% for a 500-hour instrument-rated pilot, 3.33% at 250 hours. See reference/insurance-costs.md.
• Liability ($1M smooth): $900-$1,400/year.
• Pilot requirements: typically 400+ hours total, 50+ retractable, 25+ in type, instrument rating strongly preferred. Both complex and high-performance endorsements are required.
• The dominant variable is pilot hours, not the airframe: the same Mooney hull doubled in premium between a 500-hour and a 250-hour pilot.
• A gear-up in the history raises hull rates 20-30% or pushes the risk out of preferred markets.

See GA Insurance Underwriting.