Aircraft model
PIPER PA-30B-160
Everything here is true of every aircraft of the type, not of any one aircraft.
A Twin Comanche B: the 1965-68 revision of Piper's small twin, with two 160 hp Lycoming IO-320s, a 3,600 lb maximum weight and 90 gallons of fuel. The 160 in the registry designation is the per-engine horsepower, which is the whole point of the aeroplane — it cruises at 170 knots on 320 total horsepower, which is less than a Cherokee Six uses to go 148.
Nothing else offers that combination and nothing has since. The catch is the other side of a small twin: at gross weight on one engine the Twin Comanche will hold altitude and not much more, and its accident record in the 1960s was bad enough that Piper eventually redesigned the stall behaviour. Modern training and the counter-rotating PA-39 addressed most of it. Ownership is unusually cheap for a twin — two small four-cylinder Lycomings are the least expensive pair in the category — but parts for the airframe come from a specialist trade and the fuel system deserves study.
Compare with…
Put PIPER PA-30B-160 side by side with up to two other models.
- PIPER PA-30B-160
What it is
| Seats | 4 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | tricycle |
| Engines | 2 |
| Engine | Lycoming IO-320-B1A |
| Horsepower | 160 hp |
| Fuel | 100LL |
| Certification basis | CAR3 |
| Production start | 1965 |
| Production end | 1968 |
| Endorsements required | complex;multi-engine |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 169 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | 770 nm |
| Service ceiling | 18,600 ft |
| Climb rate | 1,460 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 60 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | 1,570 ft |
| Landing over 50 ft | 1,875 ft |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 4 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 1,390 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | 850 lb |
| Max takeoff weight | 3,600 lb |
| Empty weight | 2,210 lb |
| Usable fuel | 90 gal |
| Fuel burn at cruise | 17.9 gal/h |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | $95,000 |
|---|---|
| Price, high | $200,000 |
| Prices as of | 2026 |
| Engine TBO | 2,000 h |
| Overhaul cost, low | $30,000 |
| Overhaul cost, high | $42,000 |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 3 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 1 |
| Median year built | — |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 0 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 0 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | — |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | — |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 0 |
| Transfers per 100 active | — |
| Airworthiness directives | 0 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 0 |
| Rate confidence | none |
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing multi-engine, piston, 2 engines, 3-4 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | —1 |
| Severity | —2 |
| Access | —3 |
| Support | 0 of 104 |
| Liquidity | —5 |
- Accident record: class median 6.62 · 7 models in class.
- Severity: class median 7.14.
- Access: class median 1,060.75.
- Support: class median 109.
- Liquidity: class median 21.05.
- Each of the five categories places the model within its peer class, from 0 (the worst of the class) to 10 (the best): a position among comparable models, not a grade. The overall score is the sum of the categories shown that are scored, out of 10 for each (50 when all five are); it is given only when at least 4 of the five are scored, and it can be set against another model's only when both are in the same peer class and scored on the same categories.