2 April 2003
New Piper Aircraft unveiled two new models – the Piper 6X and the Piper 6XT, at Sun ‘n Fun which began at Lakeland, Florida, today (Wednesday).
The 6X is a normally aspirated, fixed-gear version of the six-seat Saratoga II, and the 6XT is its turbocharged equivalent. Both are powered by 300hp Lycomings and have top speeds of 153kt and 165kt respectively.
New Piper calls the pair a modern, powereful equivalent to their namesake, the Cherokee Six. It adds that they are also a modern answer to dramatic increases in insurance premiums. “The Piper 6X and Piper 6XT are high performance aircraft that insurance companies will look upon favourably due to their fixed-gear configurations,” says the company. “The Piper 6X and Piper 6XT are fast, long-legged, and have an excellent useful load capacity, all for a very competitive price.”
The 6X revealed at Lakeland has a useful load of 1440lb and a payload of 828lb with full fuel. Useable fuel for both the normally aspirated version and the turbocharged version is 102 gallons.
The 6X’s first flight took place at New Piper’s headquarters in Vero Beach on February 24.
While option pricing has not yet been determined, the standard equipped list price of the Piper 6X is $336,000 and the Piper 6XT is $356,000.
Futher details at <a href=”http://www.newpiper.com” target=”_blank”>New Piper</a>
