Piper Aircraft is expanding the engine options for its Archer TX training airplane to three with the planned certification later this year of a fuel-injected version. University of North Dakota has placed the first order for the fuel-injected Lycoming IO-360-B4M-powered Archer TX, and this engine will be offered as an option for Archer buyers. The other options are the carbureted O-360 and the Continental CD-155 diesel-powered version. All are equipped with a Garmin G1000 avionics suite with Aspen EFD-1000 standby display and Garmin GTX 33ES ADS-B OUT transponder.

Sales of training airplanes continue to grow, according to Piper president and CEO Simon Caldecott. Training provider ATP has already taken delivery of 75 Archers as part of a 2013 order and added another 12 to that order for delivery in 2017. 

Caldecott said that deliveries during the first quarter were “relatively light, but we planned it that way. It’s typically backend-loaded to later in the year. The second quarter was up a little.” Now that the M600 turboprop single, which was certified on June 17, has begun delivering, he expects that model to accelerate overall deliveries during the remainder of the year. However, Piper plans to build just 35 M600s per year to prevent a surge in initial orders and deliveries followed by a flattening out of production, which is difficult to manage. “We’ve already sold out this year, and we’re taking orders for 2017,” he said. “The M600 is the big thing for us, it’s the natural step-up for a lot of customers.”

Piper will continue improving existing products, Caldecott said, but he wouldn’t reveal plans for upcoming improvements or new airplane designs. “My view on the products is that we have to be continuing to upgrade and have things in the pipeline. We’re going to continue down that path.”