Used Aircraft Guide

All airplanes are compromises. Since most of us lack an unlimited budget, were often forced to choose between going fast in a relatively small cockpit or dragging around a larger cabin more slowly. Its simple, really: The “go-fast” airplane will get us to our destination sooner, but we might be forced to leave behind a few things, or a few people. The slower, large-cabin bird gets us there just fine, thank you, and lets us carry all the stuff we’ll need upon arrival.

Conceived as a next generation bushplane with turbine power, the Caravan was a huge risk for Cessna to take at a time when aircraft sales were collapsing and the selling price of a new turboprop would have to be multiples of the prices for the used, piston-pounding DeHavilland Beavers and Otters with which it was to compete. At $650,000 in 1985, the folks who worked airplanes hard for a living wore down a lot of sharp pencils trying to figure out whether Cessnas new load hauler would also carry the debt load that wou ld come with it.

A significant fraction of the aviation community is made up of pilots who are less interested in getting rapidly from Point A to Point B than they are in just going aloft to enjoy a fine day and perhaps being able to top off the flight with a loop and a roll or three. Rather than fantasize about bigger engines, retractable gear, turbocharging and glass panels, they dream of an airplane that will let them enjoy the sky by doing more than flying straight and level while still being able to go somewhere at a reasonable pace. The explosion of the homebuilt, ultralight and the budding Light Sport industry in recent decades is testament to the demand for simple, inexpensive airplanes suited to the pure joy of flight. Unfortunately, for those who prefer factory-built airplanes, the choices are limited, especially if one has the desire to enhance that joy with the sensuous pleasure of aerobatics.

Hawker Beechcraft is in the middle of its celebration of the 60th anniversary of production of the Bonanza. In one form or another, the Bonanza has been in continuous production since 1947, when the first V-tail was built-an astounding fact in itself. The 35 Bonanza was the first high-performance postwar single and was markedly different from the average light airplane of the day. Base price of the first models was $7975 ($79,477 in 2007 dollars). How times change.

Pipers venerable Seneca is what we think of as a “full-circle airplane.” Would-be twin owners often consider it as their first choice, but then shop around for a Baron, or a Skymaster or maybe an Aztec. They then come full circle back to the Seneca for several good reasons, the leading one being that as twins go, the Seneca is eminently practical. It does nothing exceedingly well-its not fast, nor a joy to fly nor will it turn heads on the ramp-but it does a lot we’ll enough.

In the peak of Pipers Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, glory days, William T. Piper was rightly seen as a visionary. But no one could have imagined how enduring that vision would be, to the extent that 70 years later, several companies are building brand new Cubs that clearly trade on the mystique of the old yellow classic. Look elsewhere in this issue for our review of two LSA Cubs to see what we mean. The only reason that “Piper Cub” is no longer the standard generic name for every little airplane flying is that the generation that made it so has been displaced by younger folks to whom flying holds little attraction, much less romance.

They were the last of the pressurized, piston, 400-series airplanes Cessna developed, and pilots and mechanics will tell you that Cessna got it right with the Models 414 and 414A. Combining spacious cabins and relatively small, efficient engines, the 414 series can carry lots of fuel or a small crowd with their belongings-but not both. Also, the big Cessnas have safety records that are unmatched by any other light twin.

Mooneys have always enjoyed a reputation for being fast, easy-to-fly cruisers with average payload and a somewhat tight cabin. But the reality is that theyve been more efficient than fast. Bonanzas and Cessnas gas-thirsty 210 outrun most Mooney models but on balance, no airplane company has managed to squeeze as many knots out of as few horsepower. The sore-thumb exception to this is the Mooney M20M/TLS/Bravo series.

The term “working airplane” has an unmistakable connotation. Theyre the pack horses of the GA fleet, hauling freight, towing gliders and banners, spraying crops and often operating from remote airstrips or lakes.Most manufacturers have a working airplane or two in their model lineups, but Cessna has been especially successful in the piston single realm with the 180, 185, 188 and 205/206/207, each of which has carved its own market niche

Once the would-be airplane buyer gets past the notion that owning an airplane is rarely a rational decision and all of us must reach that point he can then enter the darkened cave of deciding which airplane to buy. If practicality and utility arent on the wish list, the choices narrow down to sport flyers, aerobats, warbirds and the ever alluring classics.

The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is, in many ways, the standard of reference for the fixed gear single. With more produced than any other type of civilian airplane in history, the market has quite effectively expressed its approval.

Unless youre going to fly off the water, there is no reason in the world to consider buying a Lake Amphibian, the one and only production flying boat still made in the United States-barely.