Piper Aircraft Pa-14 Family Cruiser

Single Piston

The Piper PA-14 Family Cruiser is a high-wing, single-engine taildragger built between 1947 and 1949 as Piper's answer to the postwar general aviation boom. Designed as a four-seat family aircraft with a more spacious cabin than the popular J-3 Cub, the PA-14 featured a 115-horsepower Lycoming O-235 engine and a distinctive rounded fuselage that offered genuine cross-country capability for the era. Only about 238 examples were produced before Piper shifted focus to the more successful PA-20 Pacer, making the Family Cruiser a relatively rare sight on the ramp today. With a cruise speed around 105 knots and a useful load approaching 800 pounds, the PA-14 was a capable tourer for its time, though it never achieved the commercial success Piper hoped for. The type's short production run and the subsequent popularity of tricycle-gear designs meant that Family Cruisers became something of a collector's item among tailwheel enthusiasts. Most surviving examples have been meticulously restored and are prized for their roomy cabins, docile handling, and classic fabric-and-tube construction that harkens back to aviation's golden age. SkyMeter has tracked 17 flights across 5 airframes and 5 operators, with GOTTSCHALK JON R, HAM HOWARD S the largest observed operator.