Aircraft model
PIPER PA-32-300
Everything here is true of every aircraft of the type, not of any one aircraft.
The Cherokee Six 300, the 300 hp fuel-injected version of Piper's six-seat single. The extra 40 hp over the 260 transforms the aeroplane when it is loaded: climb goes from adequate to genuinely good, and cruise rises to about 148 knots. It is the pick of the fixed-gear PA-32s and it does the job a family of five or six actually needs — everyone aboard, real luggage in two separate compartments, and enough fuel for a 600-mile leg.
The price of that is a big engine drinking 16 gallons an hour and costing a great deal to overhaul. Like the 260 it needs careful centre-of-gravity work when the rear seats are occupied, and the four-tank fuel system demands a routine — running a tank dry in a Cherokee Six is not a theoretical risk. It lands fast and long compared with a high-wing Cessna and is not a short-strip aeroplane at gross. For the mission of moving five or six people 800 miles on a piston budget, however, there is very little else at this price, which is why good ones sell quickly.
Compare with…
Put PIPER PA-32-300 side by side with up to two other models.
- PIPER PA-32-300
What it is
| Seats | 6 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | tricycle |
| Engines | 1 |
| Engine | Lycoming IO-540-K1A5 |
| Horsepower | 300 hp |
| Fuel | 100LL |
| Certification basis | CAR3 |
| Production start | 1966 |
| Production end | 1979 |
| Endorsements required | high-performance |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 148 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | 780 nm |
| Service ceiling | 16,250 ft |
| Climb rate | 1,050 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 54 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | 1,300 ft |
| Landing over 50 ft | 1,000 ft |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 6 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 1,554 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | 1,050 lb |
| Max takeoff weight | 3,400 lb |
| Empty weight | 1,846 lb |
| Usable fuel | 84 gal |
| Fuel burn at cruise | 16.8 gal/h |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | $90,000 |
|---|---|
| Price, high | $250,000 |
| Prices as of | 2026 |
| Engine TBO | 2,000 h |
| Overhaul cost, low | $46,000 |
| Overhaul cost, high | $66,000 |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 1,945 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 993 |
| Median year built | 1973.0 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 66 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 12 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | 66.471 |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | 53.372 |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 183 |
| Transfers per 100 active | 18.433 |
| Airworthiness directives | 5 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 0 |
| Rate confidence | ok |
- Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 993 active.
- Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 993 active.
- Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 993 active.
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 5-6 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | 2.7 of 101 |
| Severity | 4.6 of 102 |
| Access | 8.5 of 103 |
| Support | 9.6 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 5.5 of 105 |
| Overall (sum of the categories shown) | 30.9 out of 506 |
- Accident record: class median 38.47 · 74 models in class.
- Severity: class median 16.67.
- Access: class median 1,823.
- Support: class median 96.
- Liquidity: class median 17.67.
- 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.