Dedication…Commitment…Innovation…Safety…Precision. These are the words that define the design and development of every Piper aircraft. The men and women who engineer our airplanes and their components are truly dedicated to delivering products that go far beyond business-as-usual. They come to their work with a passionate commitment to provide Piper customers with aircraft that exceed their demanding expectations. It is that passion that fuels the engineering department and its talented team of professionals.
Piper’s Engineering team covers a wide range of talent. From entry-level engineers and PhDs to highly skilled designers, aviation craftsmen and mechanics, the men and women responsible for bringing Piper products to life are experts in precision and in providing excellent quality. They are both the product of Piper’s design legacy and its guardians. Theirs is an amazing heritage that has seen more than 160 models certified during Piper’s 70+ year history. They take great pride in that history and how it directs the company’s future… just as they do in defining that future through cutting-edge aircraft and product innovations.
These highly-skilled engineers cover a wide range of expertise, including advanced design, airframe design, structural engineering, propulsions, avionics design, electrical design, noise analysis, mechanical systems, environmental systems, ground testing, flight testing, and liaison engineering.
Piper’s seven decades of engineering excellence are documented in vast files of FAA approved drawings, volumes of specifications, processes, and engineering reports. This invaluable expertise is used to build today’s competitive products and characterize tomorrow’s aircraft. Over the years, Piper’s depth of knowledge and its unique and comprehensive abilities and capabilities have proven critical to the ongoing success of the Company and an essential part of securing the trust of the FAA and foreign certification authorities.
One of Piper’s most significant achievements is its designation as one of only a few general aviation manufacturers granted the highest level of Oganization Designation Authorization ("ODA") by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). In effect, ODA status allows Piper – with FAA oversight – to certify almost all of its own aircraft designs without having to undergo costly and time-consuming reviews by FAA personnel.
In their ODA capacity, Piper engineers act as airworthiness representatives on behalf of the FAA. These engineers are instrumental in every facet of aircraft development, from initial design through manufacturing and product upgrades. But even more important, ODA status is an index of the FAA’s confidence in Piper. It underscores a level of trust and capability that speaks directly to the company’s integrity and historical record in the certification process.
Engineering is also equipped with the latest in technological tools to facilitate its mission. These tools include full computational fluid dynamics packages for aerodynamic analysis, wind tunnel access, a high-end aircraft simulator to fully analyze flight characteristics, finite element packages such as NASTRAN for structural analysis, Unigraphics CAD/CAM systems for smooth deployment of designs to the shop floor, and full ground, static, fatigue, and flight testing capability.
Armed with those tools, Piper Engineering continuously upgrades its aircraft product line and introduces new features that combine the latest technologies to meet and exceed demanding customer requirements. Piper engineers and designers focus on a highly-effective product development strategy that refines existing models, develops derivative models, and designs new platforms based on market demand and cost effectiveness.