Aircraft

Piper PA-28-181 Archer: cost of ownership

A four-seat, low-wing single from Piper's Cherokee family, common at flight schools and with private owners. Figures below use the Archer II as the reference model.

Where the money goes

Each line has a low, typical and high case. The typical column drives the figure above.

What each case assumes

Fuel burn

AOPA and PlanePHD both list 10.5 gph for the Archer, AOPA at 75% power, best economy. No published figure for lower power settings was found, so all three cases use 10.5 gph; owners who cruise below 75% power will burn less.^{[1, 2]}

100LL price

National averages for September 2026: $6.67 self-service, $7.75 full-service. Prices run well above this in Alaska, Hawaii and some coastal airports.^[3]

Engine overhaul cost

FLYING cites $25,000 to $35,000 for a Lycoming O-360 overhaul, the engine family the Archer uses.^[4]

Engine TBO

Lycoming SI 1009BF (July 2026): 2,000 hours for a field-overhauled O-360-A4M, 2,600 hours for a factory-new or factory-rebuilt engine, and 12 calendar years either way. The low-cost case uses 2,600 hours.^[5]

Propeller reserve

The Archer has a fixed-pitch prop. AOPA guidance is $0.25/hr for fixed pitch; FLYING's budget example uses $3 to $7/hr.^{[4, 6]}

Insurance

BWI names the Archer and the 172 together: $1,200 to $2,500 at the lower end and $2,500 to $5,000 mid-range. FLYING puts a personal-use 172 or Archer at $2,200 to $4,000.^{[7, 6]}

Tie-down or hangar

Low: a $65/month tie-down, the middle of our airport sample. Typical: a $450/month T-hangar, within FLYING's $400 to $600 national range. High: $835/month, a T-hangar at Essex County, NJ (KCDW) quoted by FLYING.^{[8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 6]}

Annual inspection, with typical findings

No Archer-specific annual price was found. These are FLYING's 2026 figures for a Cessna 172, a similar four-seat fixed-gear single: $2,500 to $4,500 for a healthy airplane once typical findings are fixed.^[6]

How hours flown change the hourly cost

Fixed costs are spread across the hours you fly, so an airplane that sits gets expensive per hour. At 50 hours a year the typical case is $362 an hour; at 200 hours it drops to $165.

Run your own numbers

The calculator starts from the typical case. Change any field to match your airplane, airport and insurance quote.

What a Piper Archer costs to buy

PlanePHD models a typical value of $109,500 for 1976 to 1994 Archer IIs as of March 2026, from listing data it refreshes monthly. Individual airplanes vary widely with engine time and avionics; check Vref or Aircraft Bluebook before buying.^[2]

Renting instead

Phoenix Flyers lists a 1978 Archer II at $170 per tach hour, wet. Tach time runs lower than Hobbs time, so the Hobbs-equivalent rate is somewhat higher.^[13]

Using a $170 wet rate and the typical case above, owning becomes cheaper than renting at about 186 hours a year, before loan payments, resale value and the convenience of a dedicated airplane. Compare with your own numbers.

Things to know about the Piper Archer

Which Archer the numbers fit

AOPA describes the Archer as the 1974 renaming of the Cherokee 180, followed by the Archer II in 1976, and lists the Lycoming O-360-A4M at 180 hp for the type. The purchase figure below covers 1976 to 1994 Archer IIs only; later Archer III, LX and TX models sell for more.^[1]

Check the exhaust valves before trusting the TBO

For field-overhauled O-360 engines, Lycoming SI 1009BF ties the 2,000-hour TBO to exhaust valves with 1/2-inch stems. Engines with 7/16-inch valve stems must not exceed 1,200 hours, which would raise the engine reserve by roughly two-thirds. The 2,600-hour TBO applies only to factory-new or factory-rebuilt engines.^[5]

It burns a little more than a 172S

AOPA lists the Archer at 10.5 gph and the 172S at 9.9 gph, both at 75% power with best economy, for cruise speeds of 128 and 124 knots. At September 2026 full-service prices, that gap adds about $5 an hour.^{[1, 14, 3]}

Spotted a figure that looks wrong? Send a correction. Changes are logged in the data changelog.