10 More Cheapest

When one thinks of planes that might compose any roundup of “cheapest,” one doesn’t usually think of the Beechcraft Bonanza. The Beechcraft mark, indeed, has long been thought of as the Cadillac of plane brands. And our cover plane is a very nice example of one, to be sure. But for a variety of reasons, […]

Even if you’re a longtime fixed-wing pilot, it’s possible you’ve never heard of the Flightstar line of ultralight and ultralight-style aircraft, but the company produced a lineup of light-sport planes for a couple of decades that’s among the best regarded in the very-light segment of sport aviation. You can get Flightstars as single-seaters, true ultralights. […]

The Beechcraft Musketeer is probably the most unfortunately named aircraft in history. At the time of its introduction, the Disney Mouseketeers were a big thing, and it was impossible for people to behave themselves and not call the B23 by that pejorative. On top of that, some people also find the model less than exquisitely […]

In past editions of 10 Cheapest Planes, some readers have complained that the planes we featured were going up in asking price. It’s true, they are. So finding a sleeper is a coup, and we’ve got one for you—the Taylorcraft, offered in various configurations and various designations over the years but which at heart is […]

Okay, so there are two American/Grumman flyers in this 10 cheapest roundup, and while the two-seater deserves a look, the star of this show is arguably the AA-5 series, including the Tiger, a four-seater that’s about as versatile a small plane as you’ll find anywhere. Fun to fly, fast enough, capable and affordable to own, […]

After we published our previous article on cheap planes we were not surprised to see readers give their suggestions on what we missed. Tops on that list was the Cessna 140. Developed in the early 1940s, the Cessna 140 and the budget version, designated the 120, were the first in a lineup of mostly-metal (they […]

The plane was designed to be harder to recover from a spin than its competitors.

Small-plane designers today love trying out new powerplants, and some of those experiments are big successes, though most fall short of expectations. The Cessna 175 Skylark, introduced soon after the 172 Skyhawk (which, ladies and gentlemen, needs no introduction), wasn’t simply a 172 with a different engine. It was just as Cessna envisioned it—a step-up […]

If you’re somewhat acquainted with the American AA-1, you might think of it as a two-seat version of the popular four-seat Cheetah or the Tiger models, or you might think of it as a low-wing trainer competitor of the iconic Cessna 150. It’s kind of both of those things, though it’s more accurate to say […]

Backwoods taildraggers are all the rage these days as more and more pilots are putting big tires on their taildraggers and heading out to mountain strips and gravel bars far and wide. Consequently, planes that used to go for cheap aren’t anymore. Super Cubs are six-figure airplanes, Maules sell within a week of listing, and […]