Used Aircraft Guide

Piper’s Twin Comanche occupies a special status in the world of GA airplanes. When we last examined the model five years ago, we compared it to Diamond’s new-age DA42 twin. Diamond may have stubbed its toe since then, but the Twinco has lost none of its luster. Owners prize the airplane for the same reasons that they always have. It’s an affordable, economical and accessible twin with decent performance. In many ways, it’s one of the few twins that can claim to be not much more expensive than a single to own and operate. Or so many owners say. Prices of Twin Comanches have softened in the last five years, but they haven’t plummeted. It’s possible to find one with a spiffed-up panel and new paint for around $70,000.

When the so-called Caribbean line from Aerospatiale first appeared at the Paris Air Show in 1977, the U.S. general aviation industry was booming, building mainly tried-and-true, if staid, designs like the Cessna 172 and the Piper Cherokee line. Against that backdrop, the new TB-20 was a splash of cold water. Its not that the airplane was terribly innovative-it wasnt, sporting the same Lycoming engines we had all been flying behind for years. But it had something no Skyhawk ever did: a sleek and stylish European panache. Ultimately, this didnt help much with sales, but the thing sure was-and is-good looking, what one aviation writer famously described as a Cherokee done over by Club Med. The Trinidad is the top of the line of a small family (five) of single-engine aircraft developed and built by Socata in Tarbes, France, from which the TB derives.

Live the likes of new-age airplane companies like Cirrus and Diamond one thing: They have resisted the overwhelming urge to fit their airplanes with folding gear. But manufacturers of the 1960s and 1970s had no such resistance, including Cessna when it added retractable gear to the venerable 182. Was the effort worth it? It did add about 15 knots of cruise speed without too much of a hit in fuel burn. But it also introduced a complex, maintenance-hungry gear system that owners say will work acceptably we’ll if looked after. Owners generally like the airplane and it sold we’ll initially from its introduction in 1978 until the bottom dropped out in the early 1980s. By 1986, the model was gone, along with the rest of Cessnas piston production.

In the largish universe of used airplanes, there are a handful that are often overlooked. One of these is Pipers Cherokee 140, the modest but nonetheless seminal model that literally launched a lot more than a thousand ships. The baby Cherokee was a variant of a model that marked Pipers no-looking-back departure from its rag-and-tube beginnings with the Cub. The basic concept proved a durable platform on which to build an entire company.

Although airplanes are often sold as business and transportation tools, the reality of ownership falls short of the ideal. While either lack the range, the carrying capacity or the ability to deal with real-world weather, thus an airline or a charter outfit gets the call. A serious business airplane needs a decent cabin, credible speed and the ability to hack it when there’s ice or thunder in the forecast. Pressurization is nice since clients don’t want to spend several hours with a plastic hose stuck up their noses. Family members arent that keen on it, either. Enter the Cessna 340. Although not without its shortcomings, most notably certain loading limitations and an overly complex fuel system, the 340 is an impressive, flexible and capable airplane.

The Cinderella general aviation success story of the 2000s must be Cirrus aircraft in general, and the SR22 specifically. Since the company first morphed from a quirky kit supplier to a full-blown aircraft manufacturer in 1998, it has consistently proven that it got the vision thing right. The SR20 and SR22 in their various iterations have proven hot sellers and good performers, with unusually loyal customers. What explains it? We think there are several reasons. The airplanes perform we’ll and generally deliver on the claim of being easy to fly for people new to the aviation game. Moreover, they offer the right combination of cutting-edge equipment and construction methods without becoming so weird or quirky that buyers are put off.

Dateline 1991: The aircraft economic climate was stronger than in the current world, and Frank Robinsons tiny two-place piston helicopter outsold every manufacturer of general aviation aircraft in the U.S. Thats impressive since fixed-wing operations outnumber rotor ops at most GA airports. Helicopters can easily clobber the average operating budget and have limited mission profiles. They arent exactly simple to pilot, either. But the R22 is more than an entry-level and lower-cost machine. Its versatile and up for the challenge to support numerous mission profiles including airborne law enforcement, aerial photography and personal travel missions.

If Piper put general aviation on the map with the J-3 Cub, Beechcraft made it possible to actually go places on that map, thanks to the incomparable Bonanza. With antecedents dating to 1947, the venerable V-tail remained in continuous production until 1982, something no other model can claim. The Bonanzas unique combination of good looks, cabin comfort, high performance and good load carrying capability earned it a loyal following that continues yet today. Indeed, some owners say the early models are among the best values on the used aircraft market, but we urge a dollop of caution. Unless those 50- and 60-year-old airframes have been we’ll maintained, they can be, in the words of one owner, a money pit.

If there’s an airplane that still makes even the slightest economic sense to own and fly, its probably the Cessna 172 Skyhawk. While its a dated airframe that wont turn heads on any ramp, the Skyhawk delivers enough for the money to earn its keep. On the used market, there are oodles of models from many vintages to pick from. Even if you bottom feed and end up with a project airplane that begs for mechanical and cosmetic attention, chances are it will take only a modest sum to bring it to airworthy status.

The Grumman Tiger owner culture is as unique as the airplane. To say these folks are enthusiastic about these airplanes is to understate the case. Most owners will energetically attest to the Grummans sports car-like handling, healthy climb and slide-back canopy that slides back for open-air flight. There’s arguably lots of appeal to these little cruisers. Non-Grumman enthusiasts just wont understand. Some call them silly little airplanes. The population of Tiger airplanes is an aged batch-born in 1975, so owners were enthusiastic when the airplane went back into production in 2000 as Tiger Aircraft, LLC. It was a rejuvenated remake with some later copies sporting G1000 glass cockpits.

In an era when the state-of-the-art aircraft have to be baked in an oven after being laid up in plastic sheets squished together in vacuum bags, its hard to imagine that a wood and fabric wonder like the Bellanca Viking still exists. But it does. And although there arent great squadrons of them around, the Viking retains a loyal, almost cultish following. Why? Because there’s nothing quite like it, thats why. The Vikings performance isn’t stellar, but its credible with most of its contemporaries, the aircraft handles we’ll with few gotchas and its so strongly built that owners still delight in showing the famous factory picture of a dozen cheerleaders standing on the wings. “Try that with an aluminum airplane,” goes the advertising tag line.

Flying low and slow with the occasional whiff of honeysuckle through the open cabin window is what flying an Aeronca Champ is all about. There’s a certain romance tagging along with a rag-and-tube two-seater thats left over from the post-World War II heyday.Moreover, the Aeronca Champ is perhaps one of the few remaining inexpensive-to-buy, inexpensive-to-own, tandem-seaters on the market. You can even buy a new one-more on that later. Its also an LSA so sport pilots can fly it.