Owned a 76 NA straight tail Lance for several years. Really liked it. Found it a little lacking trying to go over the Rockies. Currently have a 79 turbo T tail. Does everything I will every want to do. Home field is at 6700 ft. So the turbo really adds to the ability to get off the ground. The T tail is a little different than the straight tail in takeoff and landing, but just learn about it and use the trick we all do, 50-100 lbs ballast in the rear cargo area if loaded with just one or two folks up front. I really like the room up front and overall room in back for whatever you want to put there.

Me. Century 2000 is inop and on a long x country it’s interesting.
Guess that’s why I’m getting it fixed.

Me too. My autopilot has been TU for more than one year. Still waiting for Dynon. It's very close. They apparently have finished the flight testing and have submitted all the paperwork. I'm guessing FAA approval 4-6 weeks.

I have about 200 hours in them flying checks in them in the late 70's and early 80s...

A pig of an airplane, flew like crap, tail sucked at low airspeeds and was a POS mechanically.

You couldn't give me one for free.

But thats just my opinion. Maybe being a newbie low time cargo pilot had something to do with it. At any rate thats how I remember them.

I found little difference between the t-tail Lance and the straight tail Saratoga. They fly like a 3/4-ton pickup drives. There's a slight difference in feel on the takeoff roll because the tail isn't in the prop blast so much. After the second take off and landing, you'll have it. Same for the T-tail arrows.

I wound up buying a Seneca II instead, which I liked a lot better in all respects.

I flew an Arrow, dropped it off at the shop and picked up my Lance and flew home in about 2 hours time. I was very happy to be flying the Lance again. I compare them as the Arrow flies like a dirt bike, the Lance like a Harley.

Roomy.

I saw that on the pa32 facebook group. I wonder how accurate it is?

And look at all the storage you have in the hangar, under the tail. Even more than a Bo.

the guys in the front look equally happy in any of them

It's very accurate. But I would add my Aztec to the comparison, where everyone faces forward, has more legroom, and 2-4 " more headroom, even in the back row.

Reminds me of a friend of ours I rode with one time in his Mooney, when I was young. I believe it was an M-20B (it had the manual gear, and I think it was a 1967?). He said the comparison between the Mooney and our Bonanza was like a Camaro to a Cadillac.

Nice plane, just NOT a Bo

Resurrecting an old thread. Currently a Mooney M20J driver for the past 5 years. I’ve got it dialed in, Garmin 500 autopilot with garmin avionics suite. It’ll do 155 ktas on 10 gph at 8000’. But it’s starting to get small with two tall adults and a growing kiddo. I live at 3000’ and am usually flying at 9000’ to 10,000’ to get over the turbulence of western Texas. The cabin of the PA32 looks very inviting.

Theres a thread on here a few years ago of some guy tuning the turbo Saratoga with the intercooler mod to get 185ktas at 8500’. I saved the thread a few years ago. Granted it was the better/updated wing. Has anyone tried to tune their turbo lance to get better cooling / optimal airspeed like that? Jesse was his first name. Can’t remember the last name.

Jesse Johnson

My first plane was a 79 Turbo Lance with about every speed mod available including intercooling. I saw 170kts at 17,000 at 75%