Piper PA-40 Arapaho

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A 1973 Piper PA40 Arapaho

The Piper PA-40 is a twin-engine redesign of the Piper Twin Comanche, a twin-engine aircraft produced by Piper in four different models (PA30, PA30B, PA30C, PA39) from 1963 to 1972. The Arapaho was modified as follows:

Different wing
Different windscreen and side windows
Step to wing-walk
Side strakes in front of the stabilator
Different stabilator with leading horns
Different vertical stabilizer tip
Ventral fin underneath the vertical stabilizer assembly
Different main gear doors

The extensive sheet-metal modifications were designed to improve flight characteristics, but while the PA-40 was said to be a beautifully handling aircraft, the modifications unfortunately did not alter the airplane's tendency to enter an unrecoverable flat spin under certain conditions. The Arapaho was produced with two counter-rotating 160 hp Lycoming engines. The PA-40 Arapaho had been scheduled to replace the PA-39 in the 1973-4 timeframe. Three were manufactured, and the aircraft was already fully certified when the decision was made not to proceed with the manufacture. Piper has never officially provided an explanation for the decision, but a combination of factors were likely to blame:

Hurricane Agnes had caused substantial damage to the Lock Haven manufacturing facility, probably including damage to some of the PA-40 jigs.
The cost of manufacture of the Comanche/Arapaho line of aircraft was high, requiring significantly more manhours than that of the Cherokee line.
The Piper Seneca was already in late stages of development, to be manufactured in Vero Beach, and likely had greater profit margins than the Arapaho could have had.

One of the three Arapahos was destroyed in a flat spin accident in 1973; the test pilot (who was none other than future aviation entrepenuer Clay Lacy) successfully escaped. One was scrapped by Piper. One, N9997P, remains flightworthy as of this writing but is not currently being flown. The photo here was taken at Lock Haven, PA, where the plane was manufactured, in the late 1970s while the plane was still being actively flown.

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