Piper Aircraft PiperJet — Vero Beach wished it were
Piper Aircraft PiperJet — Vero Beach wished it were
27º 58′ 56″ N / 82º 01′ 41″ W
The stylish high center mounted engine nacelle of the PiperJet — photo by Joseph May
First flown in 2008 then evolved t the PiperJet Altaire the aircraft project was ultimately cancelled due to a downturn in the economy — too few private jet aircraft were being purchased from the Piper Aircraft’s point of view. This early PiperJet is on display at the Florida Air Museum and certainly looks like it could have contended and acquit itself quite well in the corporate jet arena. A crew of two could fly six passengers at airliner cruising altitudes at 414 mph (667kph) up to about 1500 miles (~2400km). Quite a few VIPs could be flown quickly half way across the United States, in other words. Paradoxically, the engine placement on-high would stabilize the aircraft when power was added (the nose would pitch down and not up, per the usual potentially stall inducing habit) but the PiperJet originally had a system to increase the incidence angle of the tailplane to mitigate the change in pitch so as to not surprise pilots new to the aircraft. Alas, it appears the FAA desired a twin engine design for operation at airliner altitudes which resulted in Piper Aircraft cancelling the design meant for lower operating costs as compared to twin engine corporate jet aircraft of similar load capacity.
The Piper Aircraft PiperJet aircraft in front of the Florida Air Museum in Lakeland FL — photo by Joseph May
Pilot side profile of the PiperJet — photo by Joseph May
The PiperJet has a passenger friendly wide cabin — photo by Joseph May
The nose gear well has two pair of doors with a wide fuselage entry door — photo by Joseph May
Proudly noting the aircraft design’s first flight — photo by Joseph May
Detail of the nose gear assembly and gear doors — photo by Joseph May
Winglet on the left wing of the PiperJet — photo by Joseph May
Detail of the right-side main gear assembly — photo by Joseph May
Seating for six passengers on the PiperJet — photo by Joseph May
Beautiful plane. Corporate flying is the way I sure would like to fly. I’d enjoy going to the museum. Any place that has vintage planes I sure would like to go. My aunt was a pilot in the 30′s and I do powerpoint presentations about her and other pioneer women pilots. I’m just “a plane nut” about vintage aviation. It’s my passion.
I worked for Piper Aircraft during the announcement and first flight of the PiperJet. I performed a portion of the paint prep you see in this photo. Several months later, in early 2009, myself and half my shift in the paint shop were let go. This brings back memories.
The paint still looks good, a job well done. Also an example of the aftermath of an unsuccessful business venture though it was a design success.