Aircraft model
AERONCA 0-58B
Everything here is true of every aircraft of the type, not of any one aircraft.
The O-58B is the Aeronca Grasshopper, later redesignated L-3B: a wartime liaison and artillery observation aircraft built on the prewar Tandem Trainer airframe with extensive greenhouse glazing behind the cabin for the observer. Thousands were built and surplus aircraft went onto the civil register after the war.
It is bought for the history and for the extraordinary visibility, and it is flown the way any 65 hp fabric taildragger is flown — slowly, locally, and on good days. The glazing is the distinguishing feature and also a maintenance item, because replacement panels are specialist items. Fabric is the dominant lifetime cost. Wartime airframes have military maintenance histories that need reading, and the conversion paperwork to civil standard category should be checked. Warbird-restored examples sell well above tidy flyable ones.
Compare with…
Put AERONCA 0-58B side by side with up to two other models.
- AERONCA 0-58B
What it is
| Seats | 2 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | taildragger |
| Engines | 1 |
| Engine | Continental A-65-8 |
| Horsepower | 65 hp |
| Fuel | 100LL |
| Certification basis | military-surplus |
| Production start | 1942 |
| Production end | 1944 |
| Endorsements required | tailwheel |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 70 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | 200 nm |
| Service ceiling | 10,000 ft |
| Climb rate | 450 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 38 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | — |
| Landing over 50 ft | — |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 2 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 465 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | 375 lb |
| Max takeoff weight | 1,300 lb |
| Empty weight | 835 lb |
| Usable fuel | 15 gal |
| Fuel burn at cruise | 3.6 gal/h |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | $22,000 |
|---|---|
| Price, high | $45,000 |
| Prices as of | 2026 |
| Engine TBO | 1,800 h |
| Overhaul cost, low | $20,000 |
| Overhaul cost, high | $30,000 |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 678 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 132 |
| Median year built | 1943.0 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 3 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 0 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | 22.731 |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | 22.732 |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 21 |
| Transfers per 100 active | 15.913 |
| Airworthiness directives | 0 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 0 |
| Rate confidence | ok |
- Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 132 active.
- Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 132 active.
- Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 132 active.
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 1-2 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | —1 |
| Severity | —2 |
| Access | 5.5 of 103 |
| Support | 7 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 2.9 of 105 |
- Accident record: class median 25 · 181 models in class.
- Severity: class median 5.
- Access: class median 987.
- Support: class median 72.
- Liquidity: class median 20.59.
- Each of the five categories places the model within its peer class, from 0 (the worst of the class) to 10 (the best): a position among comparable models, not a grade. The overall score is the sum of the categories shown that are scored, out of 10 for each (50 when all five are); it is given only when at least 4 of the five are scored, and it can be set against another model's only when both are in the same peer class and scored on the same categories.