The first Piper Lance came into life in 1976 as a six seater retractable gear, 300 hp aircraft. The Lance was fairly popular for Piper enthusiasts and provided the much needed update from the Comanche.
The only problem was the Lance didn't quite have the performance that the Cessna 210 or the Beechcraft Bonanza offered. So Piper added a few features to the Lance such as the famous "T-Tail" and some other mortifications including a turbo charged version.
As far as performance specifications go the Lance cruised at about 175 knots on a range of 650 nm. That is not bad for a single engine aircraft and probably a bit faster the the Twin Comanche.
In 1980 Piper totally redesigned the Lance and called it the Saratoga. It still looked similar, but they modified the technology behind it a bit to give it about 5 knots more of cruise speed & another 150 nm worth of range. The Saratoga still sells to this day and is very much in demand!
The Saratoga and to some degree the Lance are both single engine versions of the Seneca.
The Lance and Saratoga are very popular aircraft as they are somewhat cheaper to purchase then the competing aircraft - Cessna 210 & Beechcraft Bonanza. The problem is finding a good one that is for sale as the good ones get bought up pretty quickly.
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Happy Flying!
James David
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