If your thing is aerobatics, you have essentially four choices among American airplanes these days. There is the happy American Champion Decathlon, the Pitts S2C, the Micco SP-26 and the New Waco YMF-7. You can also buy international products such as the German Extra 300, the Russian Sukhoi SU-26 and a few others.

For its part, Piper has fielded only one aerobatic model. (OK, there was also the experimental Piper Enforcer of the early ‘70s, basically a Cavalier P-51 Mustang fitted with a honking 2455 shp Lycoming turboprop, but that airplane never made it beyond the prototype stage.) The Piper P-35 Pillan was probably the most unusual Piper ever built. In fact, it’s similar to the Beech T-34 in so many respects that it’s often mistaken for the famous Mentor. The Pillan was designed back in 1980 for Empressa Nacional de Aeronautica (ENEAR) of Santiago, Chile. ENEAR was seeking a replacement for the Chilean Air Force’s aging flet of T-34 basic trainers, and the government of Chili wasn’t too enthused about the expensive turboprops offered on the market.

Rather than reinvent the wing, the Chilean company commissioned Piper to design an airplane that would make maximum use of existing components, and the T-35 Pillan was the result. Piper built 97 sets of kits for ENEAR, 40 of which were subsequently sold to the Spanish Air Force as military trainers. In 1987, Piper signed a worldwide marketing agreement to help ENEAR sell the Pillan as a trainer or aerobatic sportplane on the world market.

A few years ago, I was back at Piper’s Vero Beach headquarters and was granted the opportunity to fly a Pillan demonstrator that Piper was campaigning on the airshow circuit at the time. Though the airplane consistently surprised and amazed pilots, opening eyes and making mouths water, the market apparently wasn’t ready for a Piper aerobat, and the Pillan project was eventually shelved.

Walk up to a Pillan for the first time, and you can’t miss the mix-and-match similarity to a variety of other Pipers. Though the overall design is unique, many of the components are familiar. The gear is pure Arrow, without the automatic extension feature, or course. The vertical stabilizer and rudder are beefed-up versions of the Dakota’s components, designed to withstand the rigors of aero­batics. (Unlike most Pipers, however, the Pillan uses a conventional horizontal stabilizer and elevator rather than an all-flying stabilator.)

The wing is primarily a Saratoga airfoil, though with a five foot shorter span than a Cherokee 140’s to improve roll response, and the aft fuselage is, once again, partially Dakota. By reason of the Pillan’s more rigorous mission, the airplane is notably stronger, with thicker skins and more stiffeners in critical areas. Examine the Pillan closely, and you’ll spot hundreds of other pieces borrowed directly from Piper models ranging from the PA-28s to the old Cheyenne turboprops. Considering that the majority of pieces came from the Cherokee series, Piper designated the airplane as a PA-28R-XBT.

Power is provided by a Lycoming IO-540-K1K5, cranking out 300 hp through a 76 inch Hartzell three-blade prop. The inverted fuel system is allegedly capable of providing unlimited flight for those strange masochists who enjoy that sort of thing. Fuel capacity is 77 gallons, and at a burn of 17 gph at cruise, 24 gph under high power, endurance is a mere 2.5 hours plus reserve if aerobatics are your bag.

“Aero” has always been my bag, to some extent at least, and I flew the Pillan out over the Atlantic off Vero Beach to sample the vertical and inverted mode. Over the last 35 years, I’ve been fortunate to log perhaps 300 hours in everything from Great Lakes, Wacos, Extras and Pitts biplanes to hot dog jet trainers/fighters such as the T-38, F-4, A4, F-15 and F-16. I’ve never managed to become competitively proficient, but I’ve gained a great respect for the airplanes and the pilots who fly them well.

While the Pillan wasn’t specifically designed for aerobatics, I couldn’t help reflecting that this was the job most pilots would use it for. Pillans could be fitted with autopilots and all the standard avionics found on other Pipers, but I’d bet fun would be its primary mission.

Swing open the canopy, step down into either of the two tandem cockpits and you enter a world with a decidedly military flair, very different from any other Piper you’ve ever seen. In fact, as I climbed over the cabin sidewall into the front pit, I was reminded of my familiarization flight at Pensacola NAS in the turbine Beech T-34C. The two airplanes are familiar in configuration, though of course, the Turbine Mentor has far more power.

In the Pillan, the pilot’s seats resemble ejection seats, (though they’re not), complete with inertia-reel shoulder harness locks. Panel engine instruments read out in percentage, the better to acclimate students to military markings. There’s a characteristically ominous-looking yellow and black T-handle at the upper right to eject the canopy, and miscellaneous yellow and red handles abound for such items as mixture, fuel selector, gear lever and the normal canopy release. The nosewheel folds up beneath the front pit, so you slide your feet into wells on both sides of the housing. The front seat looks Spartan and utilitarian, but it proved surprisingly com­fortable during my two-hour flight.

Unlike most other Pipers, there’s no interconnect between the third wheel and the rudder pedals, ala Grumman Tiger and early Bonanza. Steering at low speeds is strictly by differential braking. A free-swiveling nosewheel is either a blessing or a curse, depending upon your point of view. Personally, I love it, though I’m aware it does wear out brakes in a hurry. A nonsteerable nosewheel allows full 180 degree turns in essentially the airplane’s wingspan.

With the bulbous, Plexiglas canopy in place and all the gauges in the green, the Pillan takes to the sky as if something bigger is chasing it—and with fantastic visibility. Power loading is under 10 pounds/hp, and that translates directly to enthusiastic rotation and climb, about 1300-1500 fpm.

Leveled at 6500 for some cruise checks, you can’t help but marvel at the excellent view. The front pilot sits low in the airplane, so there’s plenty of headroom and none of the often disquieting claustrophobia you sometimes experience in a Pitts when your head rubs the Plexiglas. Visibility in back is even better, as the aft pilot rides eight inches higher. Theatrical seating that assures a respectable view forward for both aviators.

The Pillan is fairly quiet in flight, partially because of an inflatable canopy seal, though every intelligent pilot wears ANR headsets these days, so the actual decibel count may be a moot point.

Pitch and roll trim work thru a traditional Chinese-hat-style pipper atop the control stick. Trimming elevators or ail­erons is a simple matter of a few pounds pressure forward, aft, left or right with your right thumb. Trim is quick and positive as it should be in a military airplane. In a similar sense, stick roll and pitch response is relatively light.

Pure speed isn’t the Pillan’s forte, but the airplane scores about 160 knots at max cruise. That’s on a fuel burn of 103 pounds/hr, 17 gallons in general aviation parlance. In other words, this is an adequately quick machine but not one you’d normally buy specifically for cross country travel.

Cut loose with some inside aero, and the Pillan is more in its element. With a Piper pilot riding in back to make sure I didn’t try anything outside the airplane’s limits, I first investigated the stall/spin characteristics.

With power at idle, gear and flaps up and the nose 30 degrees above the horizon, the Pillan has very Cherokee-like stall characteristics (well, it is a Cherokee wing). Hold it in the stall and stab the left pedal to the floor, however, and the airplane will reluctantly fall off into a spin. Established in the spin, the airplane will pick up a surprising rotation of probably 180 degrees/second. I didn’t see any tendency to wrap up or nose up toward a flat attitude. Recovery is conventional, with opposite rudder and forward stick.

Standard aileron and barrel rolls aren’t much of a challenge, more gentlemanly than hot dog, scoring perhaps 100 degrees per second. Slow rolls and inverted flight with essentially a standard, semi-tapered Warrior airfoil demand a major push at the bottom and a fairly high negative angle of attack. Snap rolls aren’t recommended in the Pillan, because of the twisting moment on the tail.

Vertical maneuvers are similarly simple, though you need to get with it during entry, as the airplane sluffs off speed quickly during any significant pull. I tried a few loops, Immelmanns, hammerheads, a series of half vertical rolls and finally a Cuban eight. The half-vertical rolls were the most challenging, because unless your entry is perfectly coordinated to preserve as much speed as possible at the bottom, you’ll run out of airspeed at the top and begin to tailslide backwards, never a good idea unless you’re flying a dedicated aerobatic bird.

Pull more than four Gs during entry to a vertical maneuver, and the airplane will buffet and complain. It’s unlikely the Pillan could be manhandled to the 6G certification limit because of the high speed stall characteristics. I talked to Piper’s chief engineer when I returned to Vero Beach, and he acknowledged that six Gs was unlikely—short of a high speed dive and a hard pull.

Back in the pattern for some landings, the Pillan demonstratesd its Piper lineage. The PA-28 series has always had a reputation for docile landing characteristics, and the Pillan definitely carries on that tradition. I used 90 knots around the patch, slowing to 80 on short final. The gear serves as an excellent speed brake, helping to nail the proper approach speed.

Electric flaps deploy to half or full (34 degrees) to plant the airplane on the runway and allow a full stop in well under 1000 feet. Piper’s spec is 780, but I’d bet you could easily beat that with a little practice.

Piper considered the possibility of selling the Pillan as a sportplane on the open market back in the late ‘80s, but the industry was on its ear at the time, and Piper was having a tough enough time just hanging in there, much less introducing a new model.

As a result, the Pillan never saw civilian service. On a ferry flight through Santiago, Chili a few years ago, however, I saw two Pillans in Chilean Air Force markings parked on the ramp . At least a few South American military pilots still enjoy Piper’s brief excursion into building an aerobatic military trainer.