PA-30 - Twin Comanche was launched in 1962 by Piper as an attempt to regain market share in the thriving light twin and General Aviation market after Piper's present 2-engine flagship PA-23 - Apache had been outclassed by competitors, such as Beech Dutchess, Baron and Cessna 310.

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Engineer Ed Swearingen used the popular and aerodynamically efficient PA-24 (Single) Comanche as a platform and built a highly efficient two-engine machine. The PA-30 proved to be a very successful design well ahead of its time and still beats many modern light twins in performance and efficiency.

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However, Piper, known to date for airplanes with extremely forgiving flight characteristics (and lack of performance), never felt really comfortable with this much sharper design that was a clear exception to Piper's other models in terms of performance, efficiency and aerodynamics and then halted the production already 1972 in the midst of the ongoing oil crisis when the factory in Lock Heaven (the same where the legendary Piper CUB is built) was totally destroyed in connection with a flood.

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A total of 2142 PA-30s were built and approximately just over 1000 are still flying around the world and are much appreciated by their owners as fast, convenient, economical and stable and supported by an active worldwide owner association: comancheflyers.com