In 1951 Piper introduced its Piper PA-22 Tri-Pacer, basically a version of the PA-20 Pacer with tricycle landing gear that incorporated a steerable nose-wheel. It also differed from the PA-20 by having initially a 112kW Avco Lycoming O-320 flat-four engine, and introduced an interconnected aileron and rudder pedal control system,enabling the Tri-Pacer to be flown entirely by the control column without the need to have an input from the rudder pedals during turns. This system was easily disconnected, however, to permit independent use of the ailerons, elevator and rudder. The Tri-Pacer proved a very popular model, and late series aircraft were powered by the slightly more powerful O-320-B engine. When production ended in the early 1960s a total of 7,668 had been built. This figure included a number of a slightly more austere version with the 112kW engine which were marketed for airport operator and flying club use under the name Piper Caribbean.