Piper Announces New Training Oriented Models

Scott Sherer

Piper Announced new variants of the Archer today at Sun n Fun. Named the Piper Pilot 100 and 100i, these reduced option Archer TX's come with 2 seats, Garmin G3X EFIS, and Continental IO-370 engine. These brand spanking new Archers are priced at $259,000 for the 100 and $285,000 for the 100i ("i" for instrument training). the 100i comes with 3 seats standard and the Garmin GFC-500 autopilot.

Harley Kleemann

Nice!

Scott Sherer

Yes, Harley. Imagine a brand spanking new Archer with Glass panel for $259k. I'll bet alot of private citizens are going to get one!

arrow76r

Happy April (two-days-after) Fool's Day!!! But I understand a new C-17 is in that same price range and a tricked out Cirrus is close to $1M !!

arrow76r

sorry C-172...

Harley Kleemann

I checked them out on Piper's web site. While they are not flashy, they will most certainly do what they were designed for...training new pilots!

cherokee150

*******JUST THINKING******
New Piper (from Bruni) trainer for $260 to $285 THOUSAND DOLLARS? What could be wrong with this picture? Well excuse me if it does not seem to resemble the old Piper trainer, from the USA, but with a 180hp Continental (also not USA made), not a Lycoming ( 140/150/160/180HP ), heavier then the old (140/180 etc), with less payload then an "old" 150hp (useful load #925) or 180 (over #1000) for $260 thousand dollars? Where is my checkbook?
While the interior may make mine a little old fashioned at least I can carry more on less (150hp useful load #925). Come to think of it if you give me $35 thousand dollars for mine with 2400hrs ttaf 230hrs on the USA Lycoming engine and with chrome cylinders , I'll even include a hangar (30x40) to store it out of the elements. I know the analog instruments are not shiny glass, but they do have "glass", and that is a whopping $225,000 savings, not to mention a hangar. That gives you a lot of cash to spend on "gas or glass" or whatever you like. Maybe that beach house you have always yearned for is not that far off! Just a conversation starter not ending.
While 1970 may seem a long time ago when a new Piper cost about $15 thousand can you think of another industry like aircraft that " Lawyers and Insurance" haven't ruined yet? Just thinking.

reyobs1950

I sat in this new Piper at Sun and Fun. I can not address what the competition is selling for, but I took a hard look at it inside and out. Most of the plane appears to be structurally a circa 1970 Cherokee 140 with 151 wings. There are modern instruments in the panel but everything else is clearly a 'freshened up' very old airplane. The logic of the third seat defeats me. They said it was so a second student could listen to the radio traffic. This might apply to the big flight schools, but would make little sense for most small training operations. The use of a 180 hp engine only makes sense if you are carrying 4 people. I have great doubts that when the flight school is finished with it that they will find a "family" pilot who wants a 3 seat aircraft with a 180 hp engine. (a Mother-in-Law seat??, a seat for the dog??). The two seat version seems to me to be no different from the Tomahawk concept, which failed. If Piper wants to field a new airplane based on an old version, why not field a 180 hp Warrior III? It would require no significant new engineering or parts production machinery, but would be welcomed by high altitude (Colorado) flight schools. Piper must know something that I don't. I just don;t get it.

Brother

Anything that puts new planes into the system can’t be all that bad.

Harley Kleemann

Why should Cessna get all the business? I'm all for Piper producing aircraft geared toward flight schools!

Scott Sherer

I understand that this plane doesn't do it for us as owners of aging aircraft looking at ownership value, I would suggest that we take off our "owners" hat and put on a business hat. So let's look at flight schools and their needs. First, they get a sizable tax credit from the feds that pays for a good portion of the purchase price plus depreciation ongoing after the purchase, which helps cover alot more of the purchase expense. Second, they get a warranty that covers everything big during the warranty period. Third, they get a plane that doesn't break all the time in the first few years. Four, they get an airplane that attracts new pilots. New pilots don't want old steam gauges, they want airplanes that resemble all of the computers that they grew up on. And they need these to perform in the summer months and at higher altitudes and they only want to produce one model, hence the 180 horse Archer airframe. Piper, if I read right, is producing about 20 of these each year. I'm think that they've read the market right and will have no trouble selling 20 of them. And by the way, Textron (Cessna) has all but exited the single engine airplane market. They're hardly selling any 172's, 182's and 206's (that's all they produce with the Cessna name on single engine planes) and the Beech name is all but dead too. Textron is totally focused on turbine aircraft that have high sales prices and margins. Just my thoughts.

BillCampbell

I think it is a wise move on Piper's part. I started training in 69 in Cessna aircraft, which is what the base aeroclub used. When I was assigned to Tinker AFB, the aeroclub used Pipers. I liked the Pipers better than Cessna, just a personal preference. But that preference has lingered across the decades. I believe that Piper is making the same sort of wager, i.e., what one trains in, one often buys later.