Welcome to this episode of Dwaynes Aviation. Cheap and aircraft ownership are mutually
exclusive terms, it seems. If you own an airplane, you’re resigned to the fact
that the privilege will cost you a handsome sum, perhaps much of your disposable income.
Yet if flying isn’t the centre of your life but you still want to own an airplane, there
are affordable ways to have both an airplane and enough money for dinner and a movie once a month.
For the sake of simplicity, we are looking at five categories: soft cruisers, entry-level trainers,
fixed-gear cruisers, economy retracts, and an affordable twin. If you’ve got the
wallet to consider a medium or cabin class twin, cheap-to-keep is not a consideration.
When purchase and maintenance costs are primary considerations,
airplane shopping is tricky. It's sometimes worth spending a little more for an airframe
or a type that’s easy and cheap to maintain than buying rock-bottom into a maintenance hog.
Older Bonanzas are a good example of this. They’re out there for a song, but the airframes are dated,
some have been historically poorly maintained, and parts can be both hard to find and expensive.
For that reason, picking the oldest model of anything is not always the least expensive
way to own an airplane over the long haul. When buying cheap, it’s important to avoid
models with long as your arm recurring Airworthiness Directives lists.
These can be both a nuisance and expensive. And watch for nice airframes that have oddball,
expensive-to-overhaul engines, such as pre-1968 Cessna 172s. We’re not saying
they’re not good buys, but know the engine numbers going into the deal.
Generally, when cheap tops your list, the more of a particular model that was built, the better.
Why? More have crashed and are in the boneyard, where they can be cannibalised for parts. We
know it sounds cynical, but would you rather pay $1200 for a new aileron or $300 for a used one?
Last, resale. If you buy something truly odd—dare we say it, a SeaBee—the market may
be limited at resale time if you really want to unload the thing. On the other hand, if you buy
a fast appreciator—a J-3 Cub—you might actually realise a slight profit at resale time, and you
won’t lack for buyers when you’re ready to sell. That also argues against something that’s too
weird or likely to be considered an acquired taste by a potential buyer. Examples: an ERCO Ercoupe or
a Rockwell Commander 100. All are cheap, but hardly what we would call mainstream choices.
Looking at soft cruisers, there are a number of choices in this category,
ranging from the venerable Piper Cub, the Aeronca Champ, to more shortwing Pipers
such as the Super Cruiser, the Pacer, and the Tri-Pacer, plus the Cessna 120 and 140 series.
A lesser-known choice is the Luscombe 8. Avoid the Piper Cub; the price of a
decent Cub is a shocker, and if you once flew one of these things, the cramped,
uncomfortable cabin is still the same. Instead, look towards the Cessna side of
the equation; the 120 and 140 series sell in the $40,000 to $60,000 range, and they’re excellent
values, still well supported by a combination of Cessna and used parts and owner groups.
Trolling near the bottom price-wise, look for the Aeronca Chief, Champ, and Super Champ. These sell
for upwards of $30,000, well below the price tags sellers are slapping on Cubs these days. Bluntly,
they’ll do anything a J-3 will. Although a Champ doesn’t quite have the snob appeal of a
yellow Cub, well suffer the snubbing and pocket thousands of dollars price difference, thanks.
The best choice is the Aeronca Champ, but there’s one problem:
to keep it cheap, it will need to be hangered, or else you’ll be faced with damage to the
wooden spar. If hangaring isn’t a choice, a metal-winged Cessna 140 is a good, cheap
alternative that can live outside. In closing, one sleeper worth considering is the Taylorcraft F-19,
a ragwing made as recently as the 1970s. It's not as good as the Champ, but it's just as cheap.
Looking at Entry-Level trainers, tri-gears are the best option because they have a great
relationship with insurance. When most buyers think trainer, they automatically start with
the Cessna 150/152 series, which is logical because that’s what the airplane was designed
for. Other possibilities in the two-place category include the Pipers Tomahawk, the Beech Skipper,
and the AA-1 Yankee. An oddball is the Varga Kachina, a tandem two-person trike with sticks
and a sliding canopy; it's sexy and cheap but a little too exotic for everyone's taste.
For absolute cheapness, rule out the Cessna 152 and stick with the Continental-powered 150s,
which range in price from $35,000 for a 1959 model to about $40,000 for a later model.
Piper Tomahawks are a bit cheaper, selling for about $10,000 less,
but there are fewer of them on the market. On price alone, the Yankee Series AA-1 Clipper
is also competitive, but the problem is that the handling is too sporty for a trainer. The Beech
Skipper is probably the best handling trainer of the lot but also one of the most expensive,
averaging about $60,000. Its Lycoming O-235 is cheap enough for Beechcraft, but all Beechcraft
parts are expensive, and the low population of the Skipper makes it a relative rarity.
An automatic nod then to the Cessna 150? Yes, but before buying, consider this:
There’s no reason a trainer can't have four seats, so it can double as a modest cruiser, too. That
automatically includes two other aeroplanes that are worth considering in this category,
the Cessna 172 and the Piper Cherokee series. Back all the way up to the first Cessna 172 in
1956, you could have one for $70,000, while the early Cherokee models, the PA-28-140,
went for exactly the same price. A decent Cessna 150 will sell for a little less than the 172,
so why not get the backseat and a much roomier cabin?. The early Cherokees
weren’t true four-place machines, but they could carry three people of average weight.
Looking at cruisers Cruisers, the best value in a cruiser is complicated by defining just
what a cruiser is. Certainly, it’s a true four-place airplane. There’s obvious overlap
between models like the Cessna 172 and 182 and the Warrior and Archer. But adhering to the lowest
price-best value equation helps narrow the field. A model worth considering is the 177 Cardinal,
the Piper Cherokee series, and the Grumman Tiger. Newer models, such as the Cirrus SR22,
are obviously out because they aren’t cheap. The Cessna 170/180 series taildraggers are also worth
a look, but the 180s are too much in demand as utility aircraft to be considered cheap.
Looking at the Cessnas first, a very early 1956 Skylane model retails for a hefty $80,000.
The earliest Piper competitor in this realm was either the 1962 PA-28-160, which became
the Warrior-or the 1963 PA-28-180, which became the Archer. The earliest Cherokee 160 retails
for $45,000, while the 180 retails for $50,000. Worth noting is that during these early years,
the useful loads of the 180 HP Piper products were a bit less than those of the Skylane, but
comparable. As both models matured, the Skylanes payload outpaced the Pipers significantly.
$100,000,What about the cardinal? Nice looking, nice to fly, but the 150 HP was no prize in the
performance department, and the 180 HP Cessna 177B version didn’t arrive until 1969. One of
those will cost $100,000, $100,000 which, considering payload, cruise speed and a
relatively small population, is no bargain. The earliest Grumman Tigers, which are wildly
popular with their devoted owners, didn’t appear until 1975, so it’s a relatively recent model.
It retails for about $49,000 (the same as the Cardinal) and carries about the same,
but cruises a solid 10 knots faster. For example, the $80,000 you’ll spend
for a 1956 Skylane will buy you a 1970 Piper PA-28-180E, an airframe that’s 14 years newer
and with a cheaper-to-overhaul four-cylinder Lycoming, rather than the six-cylinder
Continental. (The overhaul difference is about $1500, plus the Continental burns a bit more gas.)
What’s the trade-off? Not much. The 1956 Skylane had a useful load of about
1000 pounds, while the Cherokee beats it by about 80 pounds. Both carry comparable fuel loads,
so the Cherokee can deliver about the same range, even though it's 10 to 12 knots slower.
Despite the fact that the 180 is better supported in terms of parts and service, the Cherokee is
just as easy and cheap to maintain, so the Cherokee is the better value of the two.
Looking at retractibles, moving up from a fixed-gear airplane to a retractable is not always
a step up in the sense that you gain significantly more speed or payload. What you'll definitely have
to confront, however, is a higher purchase price and marginally greater maintenance costs, to
account for the gear and controllable pitch prop. The candidates here are the Beech Sierra and
Bonanza series, Pipers early Arrows, the Cessna 172/177/182/210 retracts and pre-201 Mooneys.
Later stuff like the Socata TB-20 is too new to qualify as cheap,
and the two-place Swift is too weird. The Commander 112 is a possibility, however.
There are so many choices here, the Beech Sierra is too slow in this field of choices,
even though it's cheap to buy if not cheap to maintain. Bonanzas after 1964 are nice airplanes,
but not cheap, the Cessna 172RG is slow and complex, although a good retract trainer.
In the Piper Arrow market, $100K buys an average 1970s model with the more desirable and reliable
fuel-injected Lycoming IO-360, a cruise speed of 135 to 140 knots, and 1100 pounds of useful load.
Throw that money at the Cessnas, and you’ll be about $60,000 shy of the cheapest 182RG,
close to the range of a 1971 177RG, and good to go with a 1963 Cessna 210C. Of this lot,
the 210 is obviously the fastest, most, most and burns the most gas.
In the Beech product line, you’re back into the Eisenhower administration, with a 1959 or 1960 K
or M model 35. Nice airplanes and serviceable, but a full decade older than the modern Mooney series.
Squeak the budget up a little and you can afford a 1960 Debonair, the straight-tailed
33. Except for classic taildraggers, is good to note that airplanes made earlier
than about 1960 aren’t always good bargains. Given the price of Beech parts, a bargain buy
could be no bargain to bring up to snuff. That same $100,000 budget will buy an early
1970s Mooney M20F, with a bulletproof and cheap-to-overhaul 200 HP Lycoming
IO-360. The F-model was the most immediate forerunner of the popular J or 201. You can
expect an honest 145 to 150 knots on 10 GPH. If you take your budget up to $150,000, you can
afford a late 1970s F model Mooney, a late 1960s Cessna 210, a mid-60s V-tail or late 1970s Arrow.
Looking at Economical Twins, saying “twin engine and economical in the same sentence”
is probably one of the most ridiculous thing one can say, but if you’ve always wanted
twins and you don’t want to pay much, you’re limited to the realm of the light-light twin.
The choices in light-light twins are the Piper Apache, Aztec and the Piper Twin Comanche, then
the Beechcraft 95 Travel Air, an often-overlooked twin. Early Apaches-the model first appeared in
1954-are dirt cheap, even by twin standards. You can snag one for under $50,000.
But just as with a single, we prefer an airframe no older than mid-1960s vintage, a period which
gets into the Apache PA-23-235 series, with 235 HP Lyc O-540s. Decent performance but also
thirsty engines and not cheap to overhaul. These airplanes retail for about $100,000, I’ve seen
models listed for less than $100,000, but I can’t assure how decent they are, probably high time,
with a crash history, or as clean as it gets. Aztecs are both better performers and better
values, since all were equipped with the O-540 series engines either carbureted or injected and
have roomier cabins than the early Apaches. Expect to pay a little bit more, for a good mid-1960s
model, you will $150,000 or more. Despite the fact that most pilots like Aztecs for their payload,
respectable speed and voluminous cabin, the fuel burn relative to speed don’t addup.
Looking at the Twin Comanche, which sports a pair of miserly 160 HP Lycoming IO-320s, engines that
are reliable and relatively cheap to overhaul. Putting numbers on that, if you had an Aztec,
you’d pay about $15,000 more to overhaul both motors over the cost of doing the same for the
Twin Comanche. That’s a piece of change that’s worth three or four years of fuel for a twin.
But Twin Comanches aren’t exactly the cheapest to buy when compared to Apaches and Aztecs,
just cheap to own. To get a 1972 late model Twin Comanche, be ready to shell out anything
from 150 to $200,000, more than twice what an old Apache sells for. That sounds a little overvalued,
compared to what else that much money will buy. A mid-1960s Twin Comanche retails for
about $90,000 and even though its pricier than the Apache/Aztec line, it’s the better cheap-to-keep
value because of the economical engines. This is especially true if you fly many hours a year.
The downside: Twin Comanches have dated panel layouts and systems
and they’re not exactly easy to land well. But there’s a second choice in this category,
and that’s the Beech 95 Travel Air. This model was made from 1958 to 1968 and had
180 HP Lycoming O- or IO-360s throughout the production run. Rare for Beechcraft,
even a relatively late model-1968-sells for about $84,000; cheaper than the Twin
Comanche. But you’ll spend more on maintenance for the Beech so the two are very close in value.