Aircraft model
CESSNA 172B
Everything here is true of every aircraft of the type, not of any one aircraft.
The 1961 Skyhawk. This is the year the name Skyhawk first appeared, as the deluxe trim option on the basic 172, and the year Cessna shortened the landing gear legs and reprofiled the cowling. Function is unchanged: a four-seat high-wing trainer and short-trip tourer, slow and extremely tolerant of pilot error.
Buy it for the low entry cost and accept the limitations. The 145 hp Continental O-300 is the weak point of every 172 built before 1968 — adequate, smooth, thirsty for its output, and increasingly awkward to support. The airframe itself is nearly indestructible and universally understood. Corrosion around the wing spar carry-through and the rear window frames is the main structural inspection, and the nose gear and firewall deserve attention on any aeroplane with a training history. Expect to spend as much on a usable panel as on the airframe if it has not already been done.
Compare with…
Put CESSNA 172B side by side with up to two other models.
- CESSNA 172B
What it is
| Seats | 4 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | tricycle |
| Engines | 1 |
| Engine | Continental O-300-C |
| Horsepower | 145 hp |
| Fuel | 100LL |
| Certification basis | CAR3 |
| Production start | 1961 |
| Production end | 1961 |
| Endorsements required | — |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 108 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | 500 nm |
| Service ceiling | 15,000 ft |
| Climb rate | 645 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 41 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | 1,525 ft |
| Landing over 50 ft | 1,250 ft |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 4 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 990 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | 768 lb |
| Max takeoff weight | 2,250 lb |
| Empty weight | 1,260 lb |
| Usable fuel | 37 gal |
| Fuel burn at cruise | 8.1 gal/h |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | $42,000 |
|---|---|
| Price, high | $115,000 |
| Prices as of | 2026 |
| Engine TBO | 1,800 h |
| Overhaul cost, low | $30,000 |
| Overhaul cost, high | $42,000 |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 866 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 413 |
| Median year built | 1960.0 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 11 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 1 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | 26.631 |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | 19.372 |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 84 |
| Transfers per 100 active | 20.343 |
| Airworthiness directives | 5 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 0 |
| Rate confidence | ok |
- Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 413 active.
- Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 413 active.
- Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 413 active.
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 3-4 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | 8.8 of 101 |
| Severity | 6 of 102 |
| Access | 3.3 of 103 |
| Support | 7.2 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 5.6 of 105 |
| Overall (sum of the categories shown) | 30.9 out of 506 |
- Accident record: class median 32.28 · 202 models in class.
- Severity: class median 12.5.
- Access: class median 775.
- Support: class median 147.5.
- Liquidity: class median 19.9.
- 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.