Piper Aircraft’s Incredible Journey: How A Cub Helped Raise A Legend

---

An aviation company that’s been around 80-plus years and has produced more than 130,000 single- and twin-engine piston and turboprop aircraft—from the legendary Piper J-3 Cub to the current M600 business turboprop—tends to acquire a few distinctions along the way. For Piper Aircraft, this includes being one of America’s historic “Big Three” general aviation companies along with Cessna and Beechcraft. Piper continues to chart new territory; the company introduced its updated M-Class series of business models, including the M600, M500 (formerly the Meridian), and M350 (formerly the Matrix), less than three years ago.

---

Piper Archer trainers. (Photo courtesy of Piper Aircraft.)

The Pride Of Florida

Today, you’ll find Piper Aircraft’s headquarters at 2926 Piper Drive near Vero Beach Municipal Airport in Vero Beach, Florida, but the company began in 1927 in Rochester, New York, as the Taylor Brothers Aircraft Company. The company’s founders, Gordon and Gilbert Taylor, notably developed the Chummy, a small two-seat taildragger that would inspire the Club E-2 and later the iconic, bright-yellow J-3 Piper Cub.

Following an initial investment of $400 in the Taylors’ company, William Piper purchased all its assets in 1930 for just hundreds more when the company (then under Gilbert’s leadership following Gordon’s death in 1928) faced a Depression-fueled bankruptcy. Dubbed the “Henry Ford of aviation” for his efficient manufacturing approach, Piper retained Taylor as president of the newly renamed Taylor Aircraft Company for several years before buying him out, renaming the company yet again to Piper Aircraft, and moving it to Bradford, Pennsylvania, in 1937. After a fire destroyed the Bradford factory, the company relocated to Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, and was renamed the Piper Aircraft Corporation. William Piper passed away in 1970 at age 89, following a long career in aviation fueled by his dream of providing everyone with the freedom of flight.

Trainers & Business

---

Piper M500. (Photo courtesy of Piper Aircraft.)

In its early years, Piper benefited greatly from a pressing need for small, affordable trainer aircraft to train U.S. pilots for action in World War II. In the post-war early ’50s, Piper began targeting business travelers with the twin-engine Apache, the company’s first Twin-Class plane and its first all-metal model. The company released its first turbine-powered model (the twin-engine Cheyenne) in 1972.

By 1976, Piper had produced its 100,000th aircraft with some reports claiming that one of every 10 airplanes produced globally to that point was a Piper model. Prior to debuting the M-Class series in 2015, Piper would release the Malibu, Archer, Archer III, Meridian, Matrix, Seneca, and Seminole models. Piper began work on its first turbofan-powered aircraft, the PiperJet, in October 2006, then transitioned the program to development of the Altaire four years later. The company suspended the program indefinitely in 2011, citing unfavorable market projections for the light jet aircraft.

More recently, Piper says it hired 300-plus employees in the last 18 months to increase its workforce by 20% to 900 employees. The increase stems from heightened demand for the company’s M-Class models and Piper’s trainer aircraft, particularly the Archer, of which Piper reportedly produced about 75 units in 2017.

---

Piper M600. (Photo courtesy of Piper Aircraft.)

A Touch Of M-Class

Piper’s current aircraft fall into M-Class, Twin-Class, and Trainer class categories. The Twin-Class category includes the twin-engine piston Seneca and Seminole models. The single-engine M600 and M500 turboprops and single-engine M350 piston models that make up the M-Class series are six-seaters aimed at business and personal use.

A refresh of the M500, the M600 provides a new interior featuring Garmin G3000 avionics with touchscreen controls. The M600 also features a new wing design and additional power thanks to its Pratt & Whitney PT6A-42A engine (600 SHP vs. the M500’s 500 SHP). In terms of performance, the M600 supports a maximum 1,484-nm (2,748-km) range, maximum 274-ktas (507-km/h) cruise speed, and maximum 30,000-foot (9,144-meter) operating altitude while measuring 43.16 feet (13.15 m) across the wings, 29.7 feet (9.05 m) long, and 11.3 feet (3.44 m) high.

You’ll find M600s and many other new and used Category: Fun Stuff
Tags: piperturboprops