Cessna 140
Everything here is true of every aircraft of the type, not of any one aircraft.
The fully equipped version of Cessna's postwar two-seater, with flaps, an electrical system, rear side windows and a proper interior. It was one of the first light aircraft with an all-metal fuselage at a time when most rivals were tube and fabric, and that is a large part of why so many survive. Today it is bought for cheap tailwheel flying, for grass strips, and by people who want a genuinely characterful aeroplane that does not cost much to keep.
It flies nicely, is more comfortable than a Cub or Champ because you sit side by side with a real door, and it cruises at a respectable 90 knots on very little fuel. The caveats are the tailwheel — it has a relatively narrow gear and a well-earned reputation for ground looping in inattentive hands, so budget for proper instruction and expect an insurance premium reflecting that. The 1946-48 aircraft have fabric wings needing periodic recovering; the 1949-51 140A has metal wings and single struts and is worth paying more for. Check for corrosion behind the rear cabin and around the gear box.
Variants of the Cessna 120 and 140
- 120 · 1946 · 662 active
- 140 · 1946 · 1,602 active · this page
- 140A · 1949 · 233 active
Also consider
- Piper PA-18S-150No overall score · 2 seats · 90 kt
- Champion 7ECScore 24.8/50 · 2 seats · 85 kt
- Taylorcraft BC12D-85Partial 8/30 · 2 seats · 92 kt
Compare with…
Put Cessna 140 side by side with up to three other models.
- Cessna 140
Watch this model
One email a day if anything changes: new ADs and NTSB records.
What it is
| Seats | 2 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | taildragger |
| Engines | 1 |
| Engine | Continental C-85-12 |
| Horsepower | 85 hp |
| Fuel | 100LL |
| Certification basis | CAR3 |
| Production start | 1946 |
| Production end | 1951 |
| Endorsements required | tailwheel |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 90 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | 400 nm |
| Service ceiling | 15,500 ft |
| Climb rate | 640 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 39 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | 1,850 ft |
| Landing over 50 ft | 1,530 ft |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 2 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 560 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | 410 lb |
| Max takeoff weight | 1,450 lb |
| Empty weight | 890 lb |
| Usable fuel | 25 gal |
| Fuel burn at cruise | 4.8 gal/h |
Estimated cost to own
An estimate, not a quote. Change the inputs to match how you would fly it. Defaults are for a single-engine piston, 1–2 seats.
| Fuel (burn × price) | hourly | $36/h | $3,557/yr |
| Engine reserve (overhaul ÷ TBO) | hourly | $1,500/yr | |
| Maintenance reserve | hourly | $1,500/yr | |
| Insurance | fixed | $1,400/yr | |
| Annual inspection | fixed | $1,500/yr | |
| Hangar | fixed | $6,000/yr | |
| Rental rate, wet | for comparison |
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 | $30,000 |
|---|---|
| Price, high | $70,000 |
| Prices as of | 2026 |
| Engine TBO | 1,800 h |
| Overhaul cost, low | $22,000 |
| Overhaul cost, high | $32,000 |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 4,668 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 1,602 |
| Median year built | 1946.0 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 67 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 5 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | 41.821 |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | 31.842 |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 336 |
| Transfers per 100 active | 20.973 |
| Airworthiness directives | 1 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 0 |
| Rate confidence | ok |
- Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 1,602 active.
- Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 1,602 active.
- Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 1,602 active.
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 1-2 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | 4.8 of 101 |
| Severity | 6 of 102 |
| Access | 5.3 of 103 |
| Support | 9.9 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 5.6 of 105 |
| Overall (sum of the categories shown) | 31.6 out of 506 |
These record scores treat Cessna 140 as one design with the same aircraft registered under other names: it includes the record of aircraft once registered under SPORTSMAN. Prices are not combined.
- Accident record: class median 31.56 · 197 models in class.
- Severity: class median 10.
- Access: class median 1,000.75.
- Support: class median 89.
- Liquidity: class median 19.74.
- 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 6 · scores Sep 30