August 2005-
Piper compares today’s normally aspirated Saratoga II HP and turbocharged Saratoga II TC to SUVs. A friend who owned a 1981 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 1980, as a fixed-gear, six-seat single based on the earlier PA-32 Cherokee Six and Lance models. It differed from them in its longer, semi-tapered wing (derived from the “Warrior Wing” introduced on the PA-28-161).
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 107 gallons (102 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 1977, but used a conventional stabilator instead of the T-tail that had been used in the Lance. The fuel-injected 300 hp Lycoming IO-540 engine was retained.
Initially, three versions were available—the fixed-gear PA-32-301 Saratoga, retractable PA-32R-301 Saratoga SP and turbocharged PA-32R-301T Saratoga TC. In 1983, 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.’s 1999 fatal accident. He died while piloting a 1995 Saratoga-SP on a flight to Martha’s Vineyard. At the time, news reporters focused on the combination of a low-time pilot and a high performance airplane, but while the Saratoga certainly meets FAA high performance requirements, the truth is that it’s a very docile bird with an excellent overall safety record.
The NTSB’s final report on the 1995 accident said, in part: “Examination of the airframe, systems, avionics, and engine did not reveal any evidence of a pre-impact mechanical malfunction.”
The single most common cause of fatal accidents in Saratogas (according to Aviation Consumer’s Used Aircraft Guide) is continued VFR flight under instrument conditions. 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. Together, they hold a respectable 200 pounds—or you can remove the passenger seats to create a cargo carrier with some 75 cubic feet of available space (my friend with the 1981 “pickup truck” once carried a complete anesthesia machine this way!)
Saratogas are heavy—about 2,400 pounds empty, depending on the model and equipment—so you’ll need either a tug or help to pull out of the hangar. Either way, spotters are a good idea. The long wings can lead to hangar rash if you’re not careful.
Weight and balance can be an issue—with full fuel but no passengers, you may find your Saratoga forward of its CG limit. Toss your golf clubs or a tool box in the rear baggage compartment though, and you’ll be fine. Useful load varies with the year and equipment—the original 1980 fixed-gear version could carry up to 1,600 pounds, making it almost impossible to overload. Late model retractables carry about 500 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. You have to put a container under it, then get into the airplane, press a drain button, get out of the airplane, and retrieve the container to see what’s in it. After that, though, you only have to deal with two under-wing drains. The rest of the preflight is conventional.
In flight, all Saratoga’s are stable (if not particularly fast) airplanes. The controls are well balanced, and the airplane does a good job in turbulence as well as smooth air. If you’re used to Cherokees you may find the roll rate a little slow, but the control forces are moderate. Archer and Arrow drivers won’t have any trouble moving up. Saratogas have a reputation as forgiving airplanes.
My friend with the 1981 model says: “the airplane has no surprises—if you try a departure stall it just hangs on the prop and the nose bobs up and down.” Performance-wise, well… Let’s be honest: Nobody buys a Saratoga to go fast. The original fixed-gear models cruised at around 150 knots at 75 percent power.
Today’s top-of-the-line turbocharged retractable Saratoga-II TC is about 30 knots faster at optimum altitude, but it burns around 20 gph. You can cut that to less than 15 gph at 55 percent economy cruise—but speed will drop. With full fuel, though, you’ll get quite a lot of range either way.
With a 24-year production history, what you’ll find in the panel varies dramatically. Early Models mostly had King radios and steam gauge instruments. The 2001 model I flew a couple of years ago had a Garmin 530/430 radio stack.
Today, Piper offers an all-glass Avidyne FlightMax Entegra panel as an option in new Saratogas. This replaces all the round instruments with two big flat-panels that give you a primary flight display, air-data handling system, GPS moving-map with terrain, Skywatch traffic avoidance, engine data and in-flight weather (either or both digital data link and/or Stormscope).
There are three round backup gauges on the extreme left side of the panel, but that’s it—everything else is taken care of digitally. It’s all coupled to an S-TEC 55 autopilot that does everything short of land the plane automatically.
The POH for the Saratoga is similar to that for most late-model Piper singles, but if you’re moving up from an Archer or Arrow you may be surprised to find a descent planning table, which gives fuel, distance and time to descend (assuming 500 fpm at 135 knots). 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). The 300HP engine is pretty loud on takeoff, but when you level off in cruise it’s quiet enough to hear the radio clearly without a headset, and even quieter for the passengers in back.
While Saratogas are good load-haulers and offer long range, they’re not cheap. According to Vref, an original 1980 fixed gear PA32R in average condition is now worth a bit over $140,000. Brand new airplanes with the glass panel run over half a million.
And regardless of age, no Saratoga is cheap to fly. My friend with the 1981 fixed-gear airplane paid over $2,600 for his annual inspections; retractables of course are more expensive.
Factory remanufacture of the current IO-540-K1G5D used in the normally aspirated Saratogas costs over $43,000. Rebuilding the TIO-540-AH1A 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. You can’t just shove the throttle full forward on takeoff, and you also need to watch your power settings on descent—pulling the throttle all the way back can result in shock cooling, while failing to reduce power will overboost the engine. One way to speed up descents without shock cooling the engine is to install Precise Flight’s speed brakes.
While on the subject of the turbocharged airplanes, the Lycoming TIO-540 was the subject of an infamous emergency Airworthiness Directive, number 2002-17-53, which mandated replacement of hammer-forged crankshafts, regardless of the engine’s age. 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.
Any Saratoga that’s been flying since 2002 should have had the AD complied with by this time… But if you see a deal that looks too good to be true on a turbocharged Saratoga that’s been sitting for a while, it would be a good idea to check the logs.
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.
My friend who owned the old fixed-gear “pickup truck” told me a couple of years ago that if I test-flew one of Piper’s new SUVs, I’d want to own it. 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. Having flown a couple of them, it’s easy for me to see why a man like JFK Jr, who could have bought just about any airplane he wanted, picked a Saratoga.
John D. Ruley is an instrument-rated private pilot, and a freelance writer specializing in aviation and technology. He’s also a volunteer pilot for Liga International. You can write to John at jruley@ainet.com.
Resources
New Piper Aircraft
newpiper.com
RMD Aircraft Lighting Inc.
(wing tips with landing lights)
rmdaircraft.com
Knots 2 U Ltd.
(gap seals, fairings, wing tips with landing lights)
knots2u.com
Laminar Flow Systems
(gap seals, fairings, wheel pants, solar powered cabin ventilator)
laminarflowsystems.com/product_descriptionF_pa32_301.htm
LoPresti Speed Merchants
(spats, splitters, seals, wing tips with landing lights, cowls)
speedmods.com
Precise Flight
(Speed Brakes, Standby Vacuum, Pulsating Landing Light)
www.preciseflight.com/sbpiper.html
