Approachable Aircraft: Piper Cherokee Six

The versatile, load-carrying single keeps on trucking.

- Jason McDowell

When Piper introduced its popular four-place PA-28 Cherokee in 1960, it didn’t take long for the company to realize that a significant number of customers (and potential customers) had a need for more space and load-carrying capability. By 1963, Cessna had responded to that market segment by introducing its six-place 205, and Piper followed suit in 1965 by introducing the PA-32 Cherokee Six.

The Cherokee Six was designed with simplicity and utility in mind. While it later evolved into the Saratoga, Lance, and Six—all with various blends of retractable gear, turbocharged engines, T-tails, and tapered wings—we’re focusing on the original version, built from 1965 to 1979.

With a fixed gear, a normally aspirated engine, and the traditional nontapered “Hershey bar” wing, this generation of Cherokee Six is prized by owners as the most economical means of transporting a large number of people and cargo. Here, we investigate what the Cherokee Six is like to own, maintain and fly.

Design

The design process for the Cherokee Six was straightforward: Using the existing four-place Cherokee as the starting point, Piper added approximately 4 feet in fuselage length and 7 inches to the cabin width. To handle the additional size and weight, the engine was upgraded to a larger, six-cylinder Lycoming. Though a small number were built with fixed-pitch propellers, virtually all have since been upgraded with constant-speed propellers.