Cessna 150: prices, price cuts and days on market

Buyer's notes

About the Cessna 150

What it is

The Cessna 150 is the two-seat trainer Cessna built from 1959 to 1977 to replace the tailwheel 140, and it became the airplane most American pilots of a certain age soloed in. Around twenty-three thousand were built in Wichita and at Reims in France. It is all metal, side by side, high wing, with a nosewheel, big flaps and a 100 hp Continental O-200.

It is slow, stable and easy to land, with enough flap to stop it short and enough drag that it goes nowhere fast. Two big people and full tanks is an overload on most of them, and the climb on a summer afternoon is patient. Owners keep them because they are cheap to feed and easy to fix. The Aerobat adds a stronger structure and skylights and is the cheapest way into a loop and a roll in an airplane approved for it.

Variants that matter for price

Sellers write 150, 150F, 150G, 150L, 150M, A150 and "Aerobat," plus 150/150 for the 150 hp conversions. The straight-tail airplanes of 1959 to 1965 are the plainest and lightest; the mid-1960s models brought the wraparound rear window and the 150F of 1966 the swept tail. The 150G of 1967 widened the cabin, the 150L of 1971 got tubular gear legs and a longer dorsal fin, and the 150M of 1975 to 1977 has the tallest tail and the highest gross weight. A late 150M or an Aerobat is the top of the pile. Taildragger conversions and the 150 hp Lycoming O-320 conversion turn it into a different airplane with real climb, and are worth more to the buyers who want them.

What buyers check

Most 150s spent years at a flight school, so the logs matter more than usual. Read them for firewall repairs, nose gear collapses, a prop strike or two, and the number of times the engine has been overhauled. Look at the lower firewall for wrinkles, at the nose gear attach for cracks, and at the flap tracks and rollers. The seat rails have a well-known inspection for wear and the seat stops need to be present. Corrosion collects in the tailcone, under the floor and in the wing strut fittings.

The O-200 is cheap and ordinary, but it makes carburetor ice easily and its exhaust and mufflers crack; check for a cabin heat leak with a carbon monoxide detector. The 150 hp conversion adds real value if the paperwork is right and the gross weight increase went with it. Expect an annual on a school airplane to turn up worn brake discs, a leaking fuel selector, tired seat cushions and an exhaust part or two.

Who it suits

The 150 suits a new owner who wants the cheapest certified two-seater with a nosewheel for local flying, time building or teaching a family member, and the Aerobat suits someone who wants gentle aerobatics on a budget. It is not a traveling airplane and it is not a load carrier. The cross-shop is the Cessna 152 for the same airframe with a Lycoming, the Piper Tomahawk, and the 140 if a tailwheel appeals.