Airplane profile
Cessna 182 Skylane
The default answer for a reason: four real seats, a useful load that survives full fuel, and a mechanic at every airport who has seen a hundred of them. Slower than the airplanes people cross-shop it against, and almost always the one they should have bought.
Test it against my mission See 41 for sale
Type certificate182S / 182T
EngineLycoming IO-540
Rated power230 hp
Recommended TBO2,000 hr
Seats4
Max gross weight3,100 lb
Typical useful load1,140 lb
Usable fuel87 gal
Landing gearFixed tricycle
Certification14 CFR Part 23
Typical asking$185k – $420k
Cruise — 8,000 ft, standard daySource: POH §5
75% power · TAS140 kt
75% power · fuel flow13.5 gph
65% power · TAS132 kt
65% power · fuel flow11.8 gph
Range, 45-min reserve800 nm
Service ceiling18,100 ft
Rate of climb, sea level924 fpm
Takeoff over 50 ft1,514 ft
Landing over 50 ft1,350 ft
Stall, flaps down (Vs0)49 KCAS
The number that matters
$1.31 per nautical mile
13.5 gph at $6.10 a gallon, divided by 140 knots. Cross-shop that against the airplane you think is faster — an extra 20 knots rarely survives contact with the fuel bill.
Payload reality. Fill all 87 gallons and you have 618 lb left — three adults and almost nothing else. Most 182 owners fly with 65 gallons and take the fourth seat back.
Density altitude. On a 95°F day at a 4,000 ft field, that 1,514 ft takeoff roll becomes roughly 2,900 ft. The mission planner runs this for every airport on your route.
Before you travel to see one
The 182-specific pre-buy list
Every airplane profile carries its own inspection list — the corrosion points, the ADs, and the two or three findings that are specific to this type rather than airplanes in general.
Get the list