Air Tractor AT-401
Everything here is true of every aircraft of the type, not of any one aircraft.
The AT-401 is the radial-engined member of Air Tractor's 400 family: the AT-301 with longer-span wings, a 400 gallon hopper and the 600 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1340, built from the mid-1980s with 168 completed. Jane's gives 7,860 lb maximum weight, 4,135 lb empty, a 100-120 knot working speed and a 53 knot stall at 6,000 lb.
It is the affordable Air Tractor because the engine is a surplus-era radial rather than a PT6, and that is also its running cost: an R-1340 overhaul, oil consumption, avgas and the shrinking pool of shops that know it. Air Tractor's own history says the AT-402 was created to put turbine power on this airframe, and many 401s have been converted, which changes the aircraft entirely. The buy is engine time, hopper and spray fit, and the wing-spar inspection history that governs every ag airframe; the two current listings read were $81,000 for a 1988 and $185,000 for a 1992, which is the spread between a tired and a sorted one. Figures are Jane's via Wikipedia; the TCDS was not read.
Variants of the Air Tractor AT-400 series
- AT-400 · 1980 · 30 active
- AT-401 · 1986 · 50 active · this page
- AT-402 · 1987 · 35 active
- AT-402B · 1990 · 77 active
- AT-402A · 48 active
Also consider
TAILFAX SCORE
Among 1–2 seat pistons (321 models)
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One email a day if anything changes: new ADs and NTSB records.
What it is
| Seats | 1 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | taildragger |
| Engines | 1 |
| Engine | Pratt & Whitney R-1340 (radial) |
| Horsepower | 600 hp |
| Fuel | 100LL |
| Certification basis | FAR23 |
| Production start | 1986 |
| Production end | — |
| Endorsements required | tailwheel;high-performance;complex |
Performance
| Cruise (75 % power) | 110 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range (75 %, standard fuel, 30-min reserve) | 547 nm |
| Service ceiling | — |
| Climb rate | 1,100 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 53 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | — |
| Landing over 50 ft | — |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 1 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 3,725 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | — |
| Max takeoff weight | 7,860 lb |
| Empty weight | 4,135 lb |
| Usable fuel | — |
| Fuel burn at cruise | — |
Estimated cost to own
An estimate, not a quote. Change the inputs to match how you would fly it. Defaults are for a complex or high-performance single.
| Maintenance reserve | hourly | not counted | |
| Insurance | fixed | $3,500/yr | |
| Annual inspection | fixed | $3,000/yr | |
| Hangar | fixed | $6,000/yr | |
| Rental rate, wet | for comparison |
Not in the totals: Maintenance reserve, Rental rate (for rent vs own). We have no reliable default for these lines; enter your figure to include them.
No fuel burn is on record for this model, so fuel is not included.
No TBO or overhaul cost is on record for this model, so the engine reserve is not included.
How these estimates are built. Fuel = this model's typical burn x the national average price from AirNav's Fuel Price Report (100LL $7.41, Jet A $7.66 per gallon, 5 Oct 2026; your airport may differ by $2 or more). Engine reserve = typical overhaul cost / TBO for this engine. The remaining lines are class-level defaults, not quotes for this aircraft: annual inspection is the base inspection fee (findings are counted in the per-hour maintenance line); insurance assumes an instrument-rated owner with time in type and a $1M liability limit - less experienced pilots commonly pay 1.5-2x; hangar and tie-down are national mid-tier figures, with rural and metro options; the rental rate is a 2026 flight-school rate for a comparable aircraft, including fuel. Twin and turboprop maintenance defaults are estimates, not published figures. Sources: AirNav, BWI Aviation Insurance (2019-2026), Flying (May 2026), Savvy Aviation, American Flight Schools, published airport rate sheets. Every default is editable - change any number to match your situation. Depreciation, taxes, financing and major upgrades are not included. Depreciation is not included. An estimate, not a quote.
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | $81,000 |
|---|---|
| Price, high | $185,000 |
| Prices as of | 2026 |
| Engine TBO | — |
| Overhaul cost, low | — |
| Overhaul cost, high | — |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 186 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 50 |
| Median year built | 1991 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 5 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 0 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | 100 · thin base (low)1 |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | 0 · thin base (low)2 |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 7 |
| Transfers per 100 active | 14 · thin base (low)3 |
| Airworthiness directives | 19 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 0 |
| Rate confidence | low |
- Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 50 active.
- Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 50 active.
- Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 50 active.
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 1-2 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | 9.7 of 10 · scored on 21 years of events (fewer than 10 in the last 10)1 |
| Severity | 8.5 of 10 · scored on 21 years of events (fewer than 10 in the last 10)2 |
| Access | 3.3 of 103 |
| Support | 3.4 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 2.3 of 105 |
| Overall (sum of the categories shown) | 27.2 out of 506 |
- Accident record: class median 36.69 · 321 models in class.
- Severity: class median 13.04.
- Access: class median 1,000.
- Support: class median 77.5.
- Liquidity: class median 20.
- 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. When accident record and severity cannot be scored because the model has too few records, the other three give a partial score out of 30, labelled as such; it is never set against a full score.
Data as of: FAA registry Sep 28 · NTSB Oct 2 · ADs Oct 8 · scores Sep 30