Piper Personal Aircraft
Piper Aircraft began as Taylor Brothers Aircraft Manufacturing Company in 1927. Although it's original founders were the brothers Clarence and Gordon Taylor, it was a Pennsylvania investor named William T. Piper who made the company what it is today. Piper purchased the bankrupt company in 1930 for a mere $761. Although he retained Clarence as the official president, Piper took over the day-to-day operations and began to restore the company fortunes. His simple concept was to produce user-friendly, budget friendly private aircraft for the aviation market.
This way conducting business helped the company to gain prosperity even amid the Great Depression. The company grew steadily over the decades until a brief hiatus in the 1990's. By 1995 production had resumed though, and Piper continues to make some of the industry's finest private personal aircraft even today.
One flagship model of the Piper line was the Piper J-3 Cub which was an economical 2 seat 65 hp single engine airplane. The J-3 Cub is well-known today for its usefulness in flight training and these planes continue to have a devoted following. The Pa-28 Cherokee is another classic model. The Cherokee and its variants the Seneca and the Cherokee have been one of Pipers most successfully selling models. It's use as an air taxi is renowned in the aviation world. The Piper PA-32 Series is a line of 6 and 7 seat single engine planes. Many businesses, shipping services, and load haulers have relied on this planes dependability since its introduction in 1965.
Several pending project announcements from Piper have roused excitement in the aviation industry recently. The PiperJet will be a 6 passenger private jet with a speed of 360 knots and a max operating ceiling of 35,000 feet. The Matrix will be an innovative unpressurized single engine piston airplane which will be the latest addition to Piper's Malibu line.