Aircraft model
BEECH D17S
Everything here is true of every aircraft of the type, not of any one aircraft.
The Staggerwing is a 1930s cabin biplane with negative wing stagger, retractable landing gear and a 450 hp radial, and it cruises at 175 knots — faster than most light aircraft built fifty years later. Beech built it as an executive transport for people who would otherwise have taken a train, and it remains one of the most admired aeroplanes ever made.
It is a restoration-grade classic and priced as one. Ownership means a radial engine that throws oil and is expensive to overhaul, a wood-and-fabric wing structure that must be hangared and inspected by someone who understands it, a retractable gear system of 1930s design, and a narrow-track taildragger with 450 hp. Insurance requires substantial tailwheel and type time. Values depend almost entirely on restoration quality and vary by a factor of two or more.
Compare with…
Put BEECH D17S side by side with up to two other models.
- BEECH D17S
What it is
| Seats | 5 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | taildragger |
| Engines | 1 |
| Engine | Pratt & Whitney R-985 (radial) |
| Horsepower | 450 hp |
| Fuel | 100LL |
| Certification basis | CAR3 |
| Production start | 1937 |
| Production end | 1948 |
| Endorsements required | complex;high-performance;tailwheel |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 175 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | 700 nm |
| Service ceiling | 20,000 ft |
| Climb rate | 1,500 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 50 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | — |
| Landing over 50 ft | — |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 5 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 1,710 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | 954 lb |
| Max takeoff weight | 4,250 lb |
| Empty weight | 2,540 lb |
| Usable fuel | 126 gal |
| Fuel burn at cruise | 25.2 gal/h |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | $200,000 |
|---|---|
| Price, high | $450,000 |
| Prices as of | 2026 |
| Engine TBO | 1,200 h |
| Overhaul cost, low | $70,000 |
| Overhaul cost, high | $120,000 |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 250 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 124 |
| Median year built | 1943.0 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 5 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 1 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | 40.321 |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | 32.262 |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 27 |
| Transfers per 100 active | 21.773 |
| 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 124 active.
- Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 124 active.
- Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 124 active.
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 5-6 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | —1 |
| Severity | —2 |
| Access | 1.1 of 103 |
| Support | 6 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 7.4 of 105 |
- Accident record: class median 38.47 · 74 models in class.
- Severity: class median 16.67.
- Access: class median 1,823.
- Support: class median 96.
- Liquidity: class median 17.67.
- 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.