Piper PA-32 Cherokee Six, Saratoga, Lance

Of the single-engine piston planes we rate, only the Piper Malibu ranks below the PA-32 in the United States since 2008. Up to 28 October 2026, we count 91 fatal events and 197 deaths, across about 5 million estimated flights. It often flies with every seat taken, and the death tolls show it: 17 of the counted events killed four or more people.

What is a PA-32?

Piper built the Cherokee Six from 1965 as a bigger PA-28, with six seats and 260 or 300 horsepower. The retractable-gear Lance followed, then the Saratoga and turbo versions. About 4,000 are in service; the FAA register lists about 3,700 today. They are mostly family planes. A pilot with four or five passengers and bags uses the full load. Compare the smaller PA-28 or the Bonanza.

Which flights crashed, and how?

Of the 91 counted events, 81 were private or other flights, three training, three ferry, three passenger and one cargo. One more event, a pre-sale demonstration flight at Cullman, Alabama, is excluded as a test flight, and three Canadian-registered PA-32s that crashed in the US do not count, because only US-registered aircraft do. The record is US-only and runs from 2008: fatal accidents from the NTSB database, and flights estimated from the FAA aircraft register and the FAA General Aviation survey. That survey gives flying hours for single-engine pistons as a class; airframe hours in NTSB accident records and, to a lesser degree, ADS-B tracks from 2019 to 2022 show a PA-32 flying about a sixth less often than the average single, and the count takes that into account. No small plane comes near an airliner, because any light-aircraft flight carries far more risk. The method has the details.

Loss of control is the largest group with 39 events. Flight into terrain follows with 21, engine failure with 11, weather with four and fuel with three. Many ended with the whole cabin dead: five people died in each of the Lance near North Myrtle Beach on 2 July 2023, the Saratoga at South Lake Tahoe on 25 August 2012, and the Turbo Lance near Bakersfield on 19 December 2015.

Is weight the problem?

It is a theme. The Lance at North Myrtle Beach struggled to climb, over its maximum weight and near its aft balance limit. At West Jordan, Utah, on 25 July 2020, a Lance took off heavy on a hot day and hit houses; the NTSB cited the failure to keep speed at that weight and density altitude. Three people on board and one on the ground died.

What about weather and fuel?

Several weather cases involved pilots without an instrument rating, such as the flight into cloud at Fountain Run, Kentucky, on 12 November 2017, where four died. On 19 December 2011, a Cherokee Six at 8,000 feet used cockpit weather images that were minutes old to steer around storms near Bryan, Texas. In heavy rain its left wing failed, and five died.

Fuel is a smaller group but has clear causes. On 13 November 2012, a Cherokee Six that had stood for two months took off from Jackson, Mississippi, after a rushed preflight, and the engine stopped. The NTSB found water in the fuel.

Alaska and flights for hire

On 6 February 2020, a Yute Commuter Service Lance on a scheduled flight from Bethel to Kipnuk hit terrain near Tuntutuliak in poor visibility. All five died. The NTSB cited weak operator oversight as well as visual flight in low visibility.

What should a passenger ask?

• How many people and bags are we, and what do they weigh with the fuel on board?
• Is the pilot instrument rated? If clouds or storms are forecast on the route, say you will wait.
• How high is the airport, and how hot is the day? Heavy and hot is when the plane climbs worst.
• If you fly on a Part 135 air taxi, ask the operator for its FAA certificate. For a private flight, check the tail number in the FAA registry.

How to tell if you are on one

Flight trackers show PA32, P32R or P32T. The small planes ranking places all of them side by side.