Posted on 09/08/2020 8:54:06 AM PDT by amorphous
I like to stay abreast of prices. Looking at the Aircraft Sales Online website, I saw an asking price for a 2003 Cessna 172S of over $175,000 and only 16 172s for sale, usually there are dozens. On trade-a-plane, I see newer 172s going for over $400,000!
Does anyone know why the vast and sudden increase in price and drop in the number of used GA aircraft for sale?
There are nice looking Tripacers advertised for under $20,000 with similar specs to a 172. Maybe you should widen your horizons a bit. And older 172s are available for reasonable prices.
That said buying a used airplane is difficult. It takes a lot of experience to figure out what is important and what is not. You need to get a prebuy inspection done by a competent and experienced mechanic. Most used planes are 40 or more years old. In real dollars airplanes are not much more expensive than they were 30 years ago but the fleet has aged since that time so you now need to be even more careful.
....Agree....! I have numerous hours in both several Cessnas and Cherokees.... much prefer the Cessna series...there is a horrible video on YouTube (the aircraft accident series) that shows a low-wing Cherokee hitting a high-wing Cessna while both were on final to some grass strip somewhere...I believe all passengers in both aircraft were fatalities...
Y’all have me wondering if this is a model thing. I checked for Cherokee 140s on ASO, and you’re right. There is one for sale for 34.5k, but ONLY one for sale! I haven’t checked Trade-A-Plane tho.
I know the Donald would LOVE that!
Before buying a “milkstool,” I’d look into homebuilding.
Late last year, my boss bought a 1980 Cessna 421C for about $320K. My son in law is the company pilot. This was before Covid. Don’t know what it’s worth now.
The things that you mention are inaccurate and/or basically meaningless. A Cherokee 140 has a stall speed of 48 knots when the flaps are down and a Cessna 172 has a stall speed of 48 knots when the flaps are down, so which one flies slower? The pilots view of the terrain ahead is approximately the same when coming in for a landing. And the gear sticking down below the fuselage on a high wing aircraft means you are much more likely to turn the the higher centered gravity on its nose when those little tires hit rough terrain.
I suppose that we could go round and round on this type of meaningless argument. Cherokees have approximately the same safety record as Cessna 172s when compared with pilots of similar levels of experience.
Don’t let out the secret, I still need to buy my plane. Don’t want the toilet paper effect to happen.
Doesn't seem like much has changed in the twin market. But there may be a model-specific price increase in that market also?
Heard a radio blurb today about the price of used cars skyrocketing too. The conclusion was that people were eschewing mass transit because of the WuFlu.
Perhaps it's a similar thing with GA over airlines? And private aircraft version of Uber is emerging as a result as well?
We belonged to an ultralight club, that evolved into an experimental club, which evolved into a vintage aircraft club. If you want to spend years building a plane and dreaming about flying... it might be a good way for a person to go. If you just want to fly for cheap typically a vintage plane is the better way to go. Most vintage aircraft have better and more proven safety records than homebuilts or kits.
We live on a small airport and own both a homebuilt aircraft and a factory built aircraft. We love them both. Our neighbors have a wide variety of aircraft. I personally have always had a soft spot for tripacers. They are amazing performers for their price and are super easy to fly.
See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il-Rm85ZanI for a truly awesome little LSA. Convert it to an X registration and you can do your own work on it.
“A 172 flys slower, and its gear will absorb more impact, plus you can see where you’re landing. :)”
And they don’t float so far.
The one with the higher payload when flown lightly loaded.
A 172N stall with flaps is 4 knots slower than your 140 at gross, and you can hold the nose up longer. I would much rather take a 172 into a soft field over a 140, any-day.
Increased aircraft sales started with the pilot shortage about 3 years ago. People bought airplanes for training.
Why high sales now? Beats the hell out of me.
As far as accidents... Cherokees will go into a “mush mode” if you try to get them off in challenging conditions before they reach flying speed. They will mush along in ground effect in a nose high attitude without gaining speed until you hit something solid, but this is often a walk away from your broken airplane situation.
172s on the other hand will try to obey your command and claw away from the ground barely above stall and gain altitude until the pilot tries to get just a little more altitude before the plane is ready and then the plane will nose straight in which is not a survivable situation.
We have had both types of “accidents” on the feild where we live. The Cherokee’s wings were torn off when it mushed into the trees and everyone in the overloaded plane walked away. The pilots of the two most recent departure stall “accidents” nosed straight into the ground and did not survive. The Cherokee pilot was a newbie, the departure stall pilots were both flying homebuilts were high time and suffered engine power loss on departure.
My thinking is it’s part of the answer as well. With the well to do moving out of the cities, it’s logical to assume they’ll be looking for other means besides trains and subways for getting around since fewer exist where they’re moving, perhaps.
Ours had recent engine rebuilds, so that was probably reflected in our price.
We’re happy with it.
That's what I was thinking. If it really hits the fan, the roads will either be jammed, unsafe, or both. A plane bypasses all that.
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