This 1976 Piper PA-32R-300 Lance Is Spacious, Passenger-Friendly

Lance pilots say the six-seater is an ideal family hauler.

Jonathan Welsh

Friday, December 08, 2023 at 05:23 PM ET

Verified

A predecessor to the Saratoga, the Piper Lance can be a surprisingly affordable six-seater. [Courtesy: Raptor Aviation]

Key Takeaways:

The featured "Today's Top Pick" is a 1976 Piper PA-32R-300 Lance, praised for its ease of flying and comfortable, spacious cabin.
This retractable-gear aircraft evolved from the fixed-gear Cherokee Six, designed to carry more people and cargo with added speed and utility.
The specific Lance for sale has 4,027 airframe hours, 248 hours since propeller overhaul, and a panel including a Garmin GNS 430.
It is available for $118,900 on Aircraft For Sale, with financing options provided by FLYING Finance.

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Each day, the team at Aircraft For Sale picks an airplane that catches our attention because it is unique, represents a good deal, or has other interesting qualities. You can read Aircraft For Sale: Today’s Top Pick at FLYINGMag.com daily.

Today’s Top Pick is a 1976 Piper PA-32R-300 Lance.

A longtime PA-32-300 owner once told me he was so confident in his aircraft’s stability and reliability that he could turn on the autopilot, put his feet up, and take a nap. As is true with a lot of hangar talk, this was an exaggeration. He would never do such a thing. However, the message was clear: This airplane is easy to fly, travel in, and live with. It was comfortable as well, with a wide cabin and lots of windows that endear the PA-32 to passengers.

The retractable Lance evolved from the fixed-gear Cherokee Six, a utilitarian six-seater aimed at giving pilots more room for carrying their families, friends, and baggage than the two-place and four-place Pipers in which they might have trained. When pilots began looking for extra speed in addition to extra space, Piper added retracts and a few other tweaks to boost the airplane’s performance. The popular airframe continued as the Saratoga until 2009.

This 1976 Lance has 4,027 hours on the airframe, 2,368 hours since overhaul on its Lycoming IO-540 engine, and 248 since overhaul on its Hartzell propeller. The panel includes a Garmin GNS 430 nav/com, King KX-155 nav/com, King KMA 20 audio panel, KN 62A DME, KR 85 ADF, Century IIB autopilot, Garmin GTX 330 transponder Mode S transponder, and Sigtronics SPA-400 intercom.

Pilots who need to carry more people and cargo than the typical four-place single can handle should check out the specs for this 1976 Piper PA-32R-300 Lance, which is available for $118,900 on AircraftForSale.

You can arrange financing of the aircraft through FLYING Finance. For more information, email info@flyingfinance.com.