Piper’s first high performance single offers speed, range and comfort A high performance single engine aircraft for a reasonable price, with 1000nm range and enough payload to seat four – that’s the PA-24. Back in the 1950s Piper, at that time known for building easy to handle tube-and-rag aircraft, decided to step up from designs like the Tri-Pacer to build an all-metal high performance single and enter a market segment that was completely dominated by Beechcraft’s Bonanza. There were rumours that the engineers had a very close look at Mooney’s Mark 20 prototype when Piper came up with the PA-24

In fact they combined Mooney’s laminar flow wing with an all-flying tail and a roomy cabin. And...