Used Aircraft Guide

If youre in the market for a used Piper PA-46, the good news is there are plenty of them for the taking, plus the oldest ones can be found for around $200,000. Moreover, a Malibu, Mirage or Matrix can wear a lot of hats. For pilots looking for experience in high-altitude, pressurized flying, a Malibu or Mirage is a logical step up. The unpressurized Matrix, with the same cabin as the rest of the PA-46 line, works as a comfortable people hauler with more simplicity and perhaps lower maintenance costs than its pressurized brethren.

The oldest SR22 models date back nearly 18 years, where they sold for just south of $400,000. Today you can buy a cherry, first-gen SR22 for less than half. And while there’s little comparison between a G1 and the current SR22T G6, which flirts with $1 million fully loaded, an old Cirrus with updated avionics and a young engine isn’t a bad way to get around.

These days its hard to imagine that a wood and fabric four-place piston single 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.

The Cessna 206 Stationair is one of those airplanes that you can dress up with a classy paint scheme and a stylish leather interior to fly business associates in style. Or, put one on floats and jump in with a wet swimsuit. Got stuff to haul? Load as much as you can fit through the big cargo door. Indeed, any vintage of the Stationair can wear a lot of hats.

Shop the six-seat, retractable piston-single market and you’ll find three basic choices: Beechs Model 36 Bonanza, Cessnas Model 210 Centurion and Pipers PA-32R series, which is the Lance and Saratoga. At first blush, the Bonanza arguably handles better than the other two while perhaps squeezing out a knot or two over the Centurion. The 210, on the other hand, generally has better short-field performance than the Bonanza and offers an improved hand-flown IFR platform.

The headline groups the Aztec and Apache as one, and sure, while the Aztec could never have been born without the Apache, they are quite different. From an appearance standpoint, the original potato-like shaped Piper PA-23 Apache is easily distinguishable from the sleeker Aztec.

The first of Cessna models to be built in volume was the diminutive Cessna 140, followed a month later by a stripped-down version called the 120. At the time, the Cessna 120/140s were perfectly serviceable and practical two-place airplanes. They were reasonably priced to buy and economical to own. There was a reason for that.

No matter how you feel about Garmins market domination, you cant argue that the company maintains the poll position by enthusiastically pumping out a steady stream of fresh products almost on a monthly basis. But Garmin also knows how to get the most mileage from its major systems and the G600/500 retrofit PFD/MFD was getting stale.

If Beech Bonanza ownership seems out of the budget, the good news is that there are plenty of vintage V-tail models on the market at affordable prices. The bad news is that unless those 50- and 60-year-old airframes have been we’ll maintained, you could be buying a money pit. Plus, shops wont feel sorry for you when you roll up in any Bonanza.

For a moment, lets forget that the Cirrus SF50 Vision Jet is arguably the most technically advanced personal light aircraft weve ever flown. Or that Cirrus likely will achieve its goal of making it a safe step-up jet for qualified SR22 piston pilots. Moreover, its cabin and cockpit dwelling is perhaps the most satisfying weve experienced. But in our view, the most impressive thing about the Part 23-certified SF50 is that it even exists to talk about.

In the early 2000s Cirrus learned that equipping an airplane with a parachute and gee-whiz avionics doesnt necessarily make it safe. As was proven more recently, favorable accident stats come from focused training. But as one Cirrus sales pro put it, its the Wild West when it comes to the market of used SR20s and SR22s because some buyers either get the wrong training or in some cases, no transition training at all. A get-in-and-go approach doesnt work we’ll in a Cirrus.

The Grumman Cheetah and bigger-engined Tiger may be overlooked by some buyers searching the crowded under-$50K used airplane market. In fact, among entry-level Cessna and Piper models, the AA-5A Cheetah could very we’ll be a used market leader. With a sporty slide-back canopy, snappy handling and reasonable cruise speed for its fuel-sipping 150-HP powerplant, a Cheetah works for training, traveling and for tooling around the local area. On the other hand, the 180-HP AA-5B Tiger might be the better of the two cats when more climb performance and load-hauling is needed.