9 Affordable Personal Aircraft for Airplane Buyers on a Budget

Owning a personal aircraft has long been a dream for many aviation enthusiasts. The sheer joy of taking to the skies and experiencing the freedom of flight is unparalleled. However, the notion of owning an airplane often conjures up images of hefty price tags and exorbitant maintenance costs, making it seem like an unattainable luxury for those on a budget.

Fortunately, there are still some great affordable personal aircraft for airplane buyers on a budget. These aircraft offer a perfect blend of economy, performance, and reliability, making the dream of owning your own airplane a realistic possibility, even for those with modest means.

In this article, we will explore nine affordable personal aircraft that cater to airplane buyers on a budget. These aircraft not only come with an enticing price tag but also offer excellent features, versatility, and ease of operation. Whether you’re a recreational flyer, a flight training student, or an aviation enthusiast looking for a cost-effective means of transportation, there’s an airplane on this list that could be the perfect fit for your needs.

And for the sake of clearly defining ‘affordable’, all airplanes listed below can be found for between $15,000 and $30,000, which is the budget of most small personal airplane owners. We’ll leave the six-figure airplane options to the wealthy dentists 🙂

Join us as we take a closer look at these nine affordable personal aircraft, and discover how you can make your dreams of flight a reality without breaking the bank!

Things to Consider When Shopping For An Affordable Airplane

You don’t walk into a dealership and buy the first vehicle you set your eyes on. You should not purchase an airplane without doing your research beforehand. Remember, a plane’s ownership costs start after you pay for it. Find out all you can about the airplane before writing that check.

The manufacturer – People tend to purchase popular airplanes not just because they are great planes, but they also tend to hold their value due to high demand. Less popular airplanes may have excellent performance and low running costs, but be prepared to take a financial hit when you want to resell due to low demand.

Running costs and maintenance – High running costs can drop an airplane’s value faster than a sack of bricks. What makes an affordable personal aircraft isn’t just the sticker price. Instead, it combines low fuel consumption, reliability, and cheap parts. It is vital to find out hangar storage costs for your airplane type.

Parts availability – For me, this is a deal-breaker, and it has little to do with the plane’s age. Parts for some newer planes can be challenging to get, while some older aircraft have spare parts in abundance. So, check if your airplane manufacturer has the model’s parts in stock.

Insurance – Yes, airplanes do have insurance. You think insurance costs for the least expensive airplanes are cheap, right? Not necessarily. The odds of something going terribly wrong on an older plane is higher than on newer models, and the insurance man knows. However, insurance premiums on older airplanes with good reliability and safety records can be lower than on other cheaper airplanes.

Condition – As we said earlier, knowing all you can about an airplane’s used history before buying seems a piece of awful good advice. Great deals often mask lemons, and even popular planes with years of hard use can hide several expensive problems. Also, buying a newer model airplane at a massive discount to fix it up can cost you tens of thousands of dollars in mechanical and airworthiness certification costs. Purchasing an older but well-looked airplane with extensive service history is always good. There are still good cheap aircraft deals available; you just have to look for them.

The Most Affordable Airplanes Starting From $15,000

Most airplanes in the $15,000 to $30,000 category are forty-year. You may see vintage post-war planes in excellent flying condition, but those are getting rarer with time. Planes in this category are the best budget buys for any sports pilot with average means looking to snatch an affordable personal aircraft.

1. Luscombe 8

Price from $16,000

• Manufacturer: Luscombe Aircraft
• Year of introduction: 1946
• No of crew and passengers: One pilot, one passenger
• Cruising speed: 120 mph (190 kph, 100 kts)
• Range: 500 mi (800 km, 430 nmi)
• Engine: 1 x Continental C90 air-cooled flat-four piston engine, 90 hp (67 kW)
• Number built: 5,867

The Luscombe 8 series is a range of high-wing monoplanes based on a 1936 design by Donald Luscombe. It is a single-engine airplane with two side-by-side seat arrangements and a taildragger undercarriage. Today, the Luscombe 8 series is one of the least expensive airplanes and depending on the model, the average price of a used Model 8A Luscombe Master is $22,000. A Model 8C in decent condition costs around $17,000, while the average asking price for a high-performance Model 8F is $26,000.

2. Piper Cherokee 140

Price from $20,000

• Manufacturer: Piper Aircraft
• Year of introduction: 1960
• No of crew and passengers: One pilot, three passengers
• Cruising speed: 124 mph (200 kph, 108 kts)
• Range: 535 mi (861 km, 465 nmi)
• Engine: 1 x Lycoming O-320-E2A 4-cylinder air-cooled horizontally-opposed piston engine, 150 hp (110 kW)
• Number built: More than 32,778

The Piper Cherokee 140 is a variant in the PA-28 More family of low-wing, single-engine airplanes built by Piper Aircraft since 1960 and designed as a low-cost alternative to the Cessna 182 Skylane. The two or four-seat aircraft has a tricycle undercarriage that owners can replace with floats. Used Piper Cherokee 140s are excellent trainer aircraft, with the majority of the PA-28-140 fleet being operated by flight schools across the globe. The average retail value for a used forty-year-old unit is $25,000, and they tend to hold their value at that point due to their vast popularity.

3. Beechcraft Skipper

Price from $20,000 

• Manufacturer: Beech Aircraft Corporation
• Year of introduction: 1979
• No of crew and passengers: One pilot, one passenger
• Cruising speed: 121 mph (195 kph, 105 kts)
• Range: 475 mi (764 km, 412 nmi)
• Engine: 1 x Lycoming O-235-L2C flat-4 engine, 115 hp (86 kW)
• Number built: 312

Flown by recreational pilots worldwide, the Beechcraft Skipper is a low-wing, T-tail, two-seat cheap airplane powered by a single-piston engine and equipped with a fixed tricycle landing gear. The aircraft was designed for flight training, but its excellent performance and above-average handling led to flying schools rejecting the Beechcraft Skipper as a pilot trainer. Only a few hundred Beechcraft Skippers were produced, and today, these affordable aircraft are used for aerial tours and personal flying. Finding a used Skipper for sale can be challenging, and when one pops up, prices tend to hover between the mid to high twenties. 1980, one-owner aircraft is currently listed for $29,950 on Trade-a-plane.com.

4. ERCO Ercoupe

Price from: $22,350 – $30,000

• Manufacturer: Engineering and Research Corporation
• Year of introduction: 1940
• No of crew and passengers: One pilot, one passenger
• Cruising speed: 95 mph (153 kph, 83 kts)
• Range: 300 mi (480 km, 260 nmi)
• Engine: 1 x Continental C75-12 4-cylinder air-cooled horizontally-opposed piston engine, 75 hp (56 kW)
• Number built: 5,695

The Ercoupe is a low-wing monoplane with a tricycle undercarriage first produced in 1939. Several manufacturers have made the airplane under different names, with the Mooney M-10 being the final production variant in 1970. Marketed as the safest airplane in the world at its launch, Ercoupe featured revolutionary “non-spinnable and non-stallable” technology with car-like controls making it one of the easiest planes to fly. There are several variants of the Ercoupe, and you can pick up a pristine 1946 415-D for $22,000.

5. Cessna 150

Price from $29,000

• Manufacturer: Cessna
• Year of introduction: 1957
• No of crew and passengers: One pilot, one passenger
• Cruising speed: 94 mph (152 kph, 82 kts)
• Range: 480 mi (780 km, 420 nmi)
• Engine: 1 x Continental O-200-A air-cooled horizontally-opposed piston engine, 100 hp (75 kW)
• Number built: 23,839

Designed as a replacement for the Cessna 140 airplane, the Cessna 150 is a two-seat high-wing single-engine pilot trainer and personal plane with fixed tricycle landing gear. The Cessna 150 popularity is evident in its high production numbers, making it the fifth most-produced aircraft ever built. New pilots love the Cessna 150’s aerodynamic stability, including its remarkable handling, and used 150s are the best affordable personal aircraft for new pilots. Prices of used Cessna 150s have gone through the roof recently, and decent examples under $30,000 can be hard to come by. But you can find an older, low-budget Cessna 150 for under $30,000. I found two Cessna 150 listings on Trade-a-plane.com; a 1969 Cessna 150-J for $25,000 and a 1966 Cessna 150-F for $25,999.

The Most Affordable Airplanes From $30,000

Airplanes within the following budget range tend to be newer models of popular used airplane models. While your average wealthy dentist or real estate developer will prefer more expensive models, these are suitable for the average Joe who’s just looking for an affordable personal airplane for an occasional fun weekend flying.

6. Aeronca Model 7 Champion

Price from $35,000

• Manufacturer: Aeronca/Champion Aircraft/Bellanca/American Champion Aircraft
• Year of introduction: 1945
• No of crew and passengers: One pilot, one passenger
• Cruising speed: 85 mph (137 kph, 74 kts)
• Range: 270 mi (430 km, 230 nmi)
• Engine: 1 x Continental A65-8 four-cylinder, horizontally opposed piston aircraft engine, 65 hp (48 kW)
• Number built: 10,000+

Also known as the “Champ” or “Airknocker,” pilots consider the high-wing, single-engine Aeronca Model 7 Champion as one of the least expensive airplanes to buy and own. The Model 7 champion features a tandem two-seat design with a taildragger landing gear, and it is one of few aircraft with a production lifespan spanning over five decades. The long production run means you can buy older used Model 7 Champions for bargain prices. The average price of well-maintained examples on trade-a-plane.com is $35, and fully restored Model 7 Champions can retail for well over $50,000.

7. Piper Tomahawk

Price from $32,000

• Manufacturer: Piper
• Year of introduction: 1978
• No of crew and passengers: One pilot, one passenger
• Cruising speed: 115 mph (185 kph,100 kts)
• Range: 539 mi (867 km, 468 nmi)
• Engine: 1 x Avco Lycoming O-235-L235-L2C air-cooled flat-four piston engine, 112 hp (84 kW)
• Number built: 2,484

The Piper Tomahawk was primarily designed as a pilot trainer and an affordable personal aircraft for recreational pilots. It features a cantilever low-wing with two side-by-side seating arrangements and a fixed tricycle landing gear. The Tomahawk is a highly maneuverable aircraft designed to enter spontaneous, controlled spins for pilot training purposes. Used Tomahawks are hardly available, and the average price of Piper Tomahawk listings is around $35,000. However, we were able to find a 1978 Piper PA-38-112 on trade-a-plane.com for an asking price of $32,000.

We actually did our own Private Pilot flight training in a Piper Tomahawk! You can read about it in our story series Getting Your Private Pilot License.

8. Grumman American AA-5 Traveler

Price from $34,000

• Manufacturer: Grumman American
• Year of introduction: 1971
• No of crew and passengers: One pilot, three passengers
• Cruising speed: 139 mph (224 kph,121 kts)
• Range: 789 mi (1,270 km, 686 nmi)
• Engine: 1 x Lycoming O-360-A4K air-cooled, 4-cylinder horizontally-opposed piston engine, 180 hp (134 kW)
• Number built: 837

The Grumman American AA-5 Traveler is an airplane model in the successful AA-5 family series of four-seater light airplanes designed for pilot training and weekend recreational jaunts. It is derived from the American Aviation AA-5 Traveler and upgraded into the Gulfstream American AA-5A Cheetah. Asking prices for used AA-5 series starts from the high thirties and can get up to six figures for recent model aircraft. However, used AA-5, an AA-1S which needs a bit of work may fetch between $34,000 and $39,000.

9. Beechcraft Bonanza

Price from $49,900

• Manufacturer: Beechcraft
• Year of introduction: 1947
• No of crew and passengers: One pilot, five passengers
• Cruising speed: 203 mph (326 kph, 176 kts)
• Range: 824 mi (1,326 km, 716 nmi)
• Engine: 1 x Continental IO-550-B, 300 hp (220 kW)
• Number built: 17,000+

Early Beechcraft Bonanzas had a V-Tail configuration which earned the airplane a reputation for killing its well-heeled owners, including wealthy dentists. The Bonanza is a fast, low-wing, all-aluminum single-engine airplane with six seats designed by Ralph Harmon as a rich man’s weekend playtoy. Still in production, the Bonanza has achieved a loyal cult following among its owners and admirers devoted to its classic styling. Prices of model Beechcraft Bonanzas have stabilized in recent years, although they are still higher than those of other affordable aircraft. We found a listing for a 1949 Beechcraft 39 Bonanza in flyable condition on trade-a-plane.com.

Conclusion

So, if you’ve been yearning to soar among the clouds in your own aircraft but thought it was financially out of reach, think again. With the options presented in this article, you can find an affordable personal aircraft that fits your budget and fulfills your aviation dreams.

It’s worth noting, however, that while these aircraft are affordable, they still require responsible ownership and diligent maintenance to ensure optimal performance and safety. As with any significant investment, it’s crucial to thoroughly research and consider factors such as operating costs, insurance, and ongoing maintenance requirements.

Start exploring, researching, and planning, and soon enough, you’ll find yourself embarking on exciting adventures in the vast blue yonder. Happy flying!