June 2013
It’s 1967 and you want to buy a new single-engine retractable. What are your options? Beech, Cessna, Mooney and Piper all have offerings, but you’re a loyal Piper flyer and want to stick with the brand. That still leaves you with two alternatives: the PA-24 Comanche and the newly introduced PA-28R-180 Cherokee Arrow.
The Comanche is fast and sleek. The Cherokee Arrow looks like and flies like—well, a Cherokee—which is not necessarily a bad thing, but here’s the clincher: the Arrow’s base price is just $16,900. The Comanche is groovy, but its $30,000-plus price tag is a bit of a bummer. Besides, the Arrow has that rad landing gear system.
The Arrow project began in 1964 as the Cherokee 180 C “Special.” Work focused initially on finding the right engine and nosewheel combination. The Lycoming O-360 was chosen originally and paired with various nosegear retraction systems, but none were suitable.
Eventually the fuel-injected IO-360 was chosen as it allowed room under the engine for gear retraction. It was necessary, however to reduce the nosewheel size to 500 x 5 inches to get the gear to fit.
The landing gear that thinks for itself
Deliveries of the Cherokee Arrow began in September 1967. It featured an automatic gear lowering system which consisted of an auxiliary pitot tube on the left side of the airplane connected to a diaphragm and (through a set of relay switches) to the landing gear.
Dubbed “The Landing Gear That Thinks for Itself,” the gear could be raised by the flip of a switch; or if the gear were still up, power was reduced and airspeed dropped below 105 mph, the gear would automatically extend to the down and locked position. The gear also included an anti-retraction mode that prevented the gear from being retracted below 85 mph airspeed or if the weight of plane were on the wheels.
The 1967 model also introduced the SportsPower Console, grouping throttle, RPM and mixture knob together for ease of operation. Piper sold 94 units in just four months.
As was Piper’s way, the leadership made many incremental improvements to the basic Arrow. Piper introduced a model with increased horsepower in 1969 by equipping the airframe with a 200 hp Lycoming IO-360-C1C. The 1970 model came with new sun visors, flush fit door handles, a larger cabin speaker and centrally mounted microphone.
Arrow II
In 1970 Piper engineers began work on a stretched version of the Arrow. They added five inches to the fuselage between the front and rear seats, brought over the larger stabilator from the PA-32 and increased the gross weight. The new model was roomier with improved ingress and egress from both front and rear seats. Deliveries of the Arrow II began in December 1971 and Piper sold 320 units in its first full year of sales (1972).
PiperAire air conditioning became available on the Arrow II (and for all Cherokee models) in 1972. The 1973 model year brought a padded instrument panel and new seats. 1974 models came with improved nosewheel steering and a new overhead vent system. Options for that year included vertically adjustable seats and a soundproofing package that included double-thick windows and foam backed carpeting.
Arrow III & Turbo Arrow III
Piper debuted the Cherokee Warrior in 1973 with a brand-new tapered wing instead of the constant chord Hershey Bar wing of its predecessors. In 1976 Piper’s engineers were busy fitting the new wing to the Arrow airframe. To begin with they tested it with a T-tail, but the decision was made to produce it with the low tail instead.
Sales began in late January 1977 with a price of $37,850. Photos from sales material of the time show the difference between the II model with its square-ish wing and III model with its tapered wing and nose.
A turbocharged version of the Arrow III was developed which incorporated a Continental TSIO-360-F engine, the fixed wastegate system from the Seneca II, increased fuel capacity and a bump up of gross weight to 2,900 pounds. Deliveries at a base price of $41,800 began in January 1977 and 426 units were sold that year.
Arrow IV & Turbo Arrow IV
Piper had attempted several times to fit the Arrow airframe with a T-tail, but spin problems and accidents seemed to plague the design. Throughout 1976 and 1977 prototypes with both the straight and tapered wing were fitted with a T-tail and test flown.
A stretched fuselage was tested and eventually, Piper built a new tailcone with the frame spacing increased by six inches per bay to get a total of 18 inches. This prototype flew on March 20, 1978 and it seemed Piper had conquered its T-tail demons. Piper dubbed the model the Arrow IV.
Deliveries of the PA-28-RT-201T Turbo Arrow IV began in December 1978 with deliveries of the normally aspirated PA-28-RT-201 Arrow IV following in January 1979. The turbocharged version sold for $49,150 and the normally aspirated for $44,510.
Even with the higher price the turbo version (201T) outsold the 201 in 1979 with 309 units sold compared to 266 for the normally aspirated model.
In 1982 Piper modified the cowl of its Turbo Arrows by adding louvers to the bottom of the lower cowl to aid in cooling the engine. Also in 1982 the TBO for the normally aspirated engine was increased to 1,800 hours. The automatic landing gear was removed from the Arrow IV in March of 1988.
Arrow
Production of the T-tailed Arrow IV ceased in 1988 and the low-tailed model (both turbo and normally aspirated) were revived, but the turbo version was discontinued in 1991. The normally aspirated model continues in production today.
The modern Arrow is fitted with a Lycoming IO-360-C1C6 200 hp engine. Standard equipped price with a Garmin G400 avionics suite is $431,490.
It’s now 2013 and what options do you have if you want to buy a new single-engine retractable? Mooney is not producing anything; Cessna has no retractables. That leaves just Beech and Piper. That Bonanza G36 is fast and sleek-looking, but sells for close to $700,000.
The modern Arrow is also pretty sleek, and comes with 46 years of Piper heritage. As John Ruley once said, “Among complex piston singles, the Arrow offers a useful combination of performance and range, in a simple well-proven design that’s about as safe as such airplanes can be.”
For any loyal Piper flyer that makes the choice to go with the Arrow a real no-brainer.
Source: “Piper Aircraft,” by Roger Peperell. Air-Britain, 2006.
Jennifer Dellenbusch is president of the Piper Flyer Association. Send questions or comments to editor@www.piperflyer.com.
