Range Map
Origin: → · two fingers to move map
Payload vs. Range
Fuel on board
Cargo
nm
Range
Trip Preview
Name a destination in the map header above and this becomes your trip: time en route, what you burn, what it costs, and whether you get there without stopping — at the load you have set.
→
Over max payload by . At this load it cannot lift a single occupant. Please adjust your payload inputs.
We do not have a cruise speed on file for this aircraft, so there is no honest time or cost to give you for this leg.
En route
Fuel burned
Direct cost
Fuel cost
Tanks run dry about past before at this burn.
Mission Profile
Estimated Ownership Costs
Create a free account to view or request ownership cost data.
About the Piper Archer LX
Type certificated 1975 Source: FAA Type Certificate Data Sheet
Overview
The Piper Archer LX is the version of Piper’s four-seat PA-28-181 you can still buy new: a fixed-gear, single-engine low-wing aircraft with a 180-horsepower Lycoming, a Garmin G1000 NXi glass panel, and a leather-appointed cabin. It is the personal-market trim of the current Archer line, sitting alongside the more basic Archer TX sold to flight schools as a trainer. Same airframe, same semi-tapered wing, same power the Cherokee line has carried for half a century, now built around a modern flight deck rather than round dials.
What the LX sells is a factory-fresh, glass-panel Cherokee with a warranty and a parts pipeline straight from Vero Beach, in an airframe pattern so common that almost any shop can work on it. The trade for new is weight and price: the glass panel and current interior push standard empty weight past 1,680 pounds, so a full-fuel LX carries a smaller cabin load than a 1970s Archer II on the same 2,550-pound gross, and a new one lists well into the mid-hundred-thousands against used Archers that trade for a fraction of that. For a buyer who wants current avionics, a factory warranty, and no questions about a decades-old logbook, the LX is the Archer that answers “buy new”; for one chasing payload or value per dollar, the used side of the family still makes the stronger case.
Key Features for GA Buyers
- Garmin G1000 NXi flight deck. Dual 10.4-inch displays, available GFC 700 autopilot, ADS-B In and Out, SafeTaxi, and Electronic Stability Protection.
- Fuel-injected Lycoming IO-360-B4A. The current LX runs the injected 180-horsepower IO-360-B4A rather than the carbureted O-360 of older Archers, trading a little plumbing for even fuel distribution and no carburetor-ice worry, with a 2,000-hour recommended TBO.
- Factory-new airframe and support. A current-production aircraft arrives with a warranty, a fresh logbook, and OEM parts from Vero Beach: no corrosion archaeology and no orphaned-avionics hunt.
- Ubiquitous type. The PA-28 is one of the most-produced airframes in general aviation; almost any instructor, mechanic, and insurer already knows the Archer.
Trade-offs
- Modest useful load. At about 870 pounds standard, the glass LX carries less than the lighter round-dial Archers it descends from; four adults with full tanks is a weight-and-balance exercise, not a given.
- Fixed-gear cruise. About 128 knots on 10.5 gallons an hour is efficient cross-country pace, but the fixed gear and fixed-pitch propeller hold it below the retractable Arrow on the same horsepower.
- New-aircraft price. A new Archer LX lists for many times the price of a used Archer II or III of the same performance; the premium buys avionics, warranty, and condition, not speed or payload.
- Single cabin door. Like every Cherokee, all entry and loading is through the one right-side door, a familiar Piper shuffle for the left-seat pilot.
See Also
- Piper Archer II – the used, carbureted predecessor: the same mission for a fraction of the price, with an older panel and airframe. Compare
- Cessna 172 Skyhawk – the high-wing arch-rival, also sold new with G1000 glass: different visibility, near-identical mission. Compare
- Cherokee Arrow – the retractable, constant-speed step-up within Piper: faster cruise, a complex endorsement, more systems to maintain. Compare
- Piper Cherokee Warrior II – the 160-horsepower rung below: lower cost and fuel burn, less climb and payload. Compare
Technical Specifications
Dimensions & Weights
- Height
- 7 ft
- Length
- 24 ft
- Parking area (ft²2)
- 1,312 ft²
- Max Takeoff Weight
- Source: FAA Type Certificate Data Sheet 2,550 lbs
- Max Landing Weight
- 2,550 lbs
- Useful Load
- Source: manufacturer figure 870 lbs
- Fuel Capacity
- 48 gal
Performance
- Cruise Speed
- Source: manufacturer figure 128 KTAS
- Never-Exceed (VNE)
- Source: FAA Type Certificate Data Sheet 154 KIAS
- Max Structural Cruise (VNO)
- Source: FAA Type Certificate Data Sheet 125 KIAS
- Approach Speed
- 66 KIAS
- Stall, Clean (VS1)
- Source: third-party reference 51 KIAS
- Range
- Source: manufacturer figure 522 NM
- Service Ceiling
- Source: third-party reference 13,236 ft
- Rate of Climb
- 667 fpm
- Takeoff over 50 ft obstacle
- 1,608 ft
- Landing over 50 ft obstacle
- 1,400 ft
Engine
Log in to view or request powerplant data.
Sources
Where the figures on this page come from. Piper Archer LX specifications are traced to published references; estimated values are flagged inline next to the figure.
Similar to the Piper Archer LX
Similar PistonsAero Commander 200
Beechcraft Bonanza 33
Beechcraft Bonanza A36
Compare the Piper Archer LX to other aircraft
