On 6 December 1963 Piper flew the prototype of a six-seat version of the PA-28 Cherokee, retaining the same general configuration but differing primarily by having a slight increase in wing span, the fuselage lengthened by 1.35m, and the installation of the 194kW Avco Lycoming O-540-E4B5 flat-six engine. Designated Piper PA-32-260-6 Cherokee Six, it was available initially in Standard, Custom, Executive and Sportsman versions with differing standards of installed equipment. By 1966 the company designation had changed to PA-32-260 and the Cherokee Six was then available as an optional six/seven-seat aircraft and, as the PA-32-300, with an optional 224kW IO-540-K engine, in 1971 Piper restyled the name to Cherokee SIX, but apart from annual product improvement, there were no changes until 1975 when a new version designated PA-32R-300 Cherokee Lance entered production to complement the Cherokee SIX, differing by introduction of a new fuselage structure and retractable tricycle landing gear. The 1978 version of the Lance had the conventional tail unit replaced by a T-tail, the designation then changing to PA-32RT-300 Lance II and, at the same time, a model with 224kW TIO-540-S1AD turbocharged engines became available under the designation PA-32RT-300T Turbo Lance II. Production of PA-32-260 Cherokee SIX ended in late 1978, the remaining version then being redesignated PA-32-300 SIX 300, but in the following year this also disappeared, together with the Lance II and Turbo Lance II. These aircraft were superseded by the six/seven-seat PA-32-301 Saratoga (the basic member of the new related family) which had an in-creased-span wing, reversion to a conventional tail unit, fixed tricycle landing gear, and a 224kW IO-540-K1G5D engine driving a constant-speed propeller. Made available simultaneously was the generally similar PA-32-301T Turbo Saratoga, which had a turbocharged version of the same engine, and the corresponding PA-32R-301 Saratoga SP and PA-32R-301T Turbo Saratoga SP which differed by having retractable tricycle landing gear. Only very low volume production continued into the early 1990s.

3-View

A three-view drawing of PA-32RT Turbo Lance II (1278 x 800)