[1] Piper started the design work in 1965 for a twin-engined piston non-pressurized commuter airliner and the prototype first flew on 13 May 1968.

[1] It was a low-wing monoplane that was intended to be powered by two 475 hp (354 kW) Lycoming TIO-720-B1A piston engines then under development.

It was planned that the aircraft would be built at the new factory at Lakeland Municipal Airport in Florida.

Due to problems during development the tail area was increased, the fuselage stretched and the engines uprated to 520 hp (388 kW) variants.

As part of this one fuselage with wings was transported from Florida to Poland and a team of designers was assembled at the R&D Center in Mielec.