Aircraft model
CESSNA 172F
Everything here is true of every aircraft of the type, not of any one aircraft.
The 1965 Skyhawk. This was the first year of the electric flap switch in place of the manual johnson-bar lever, a change most owners regard as a step backwards for training because the manual lever gives instant, feelable control. Otherwise it is the familiar four-seat high-wing trainer and short-trip aeroplane: slow, stable, easy to land badly and still walk away from.
Buying advice is the same as for its immediate neighbours. It is among the least expensive ways into four-seat aircraft ownership, the airframe is well understood by every mechanic, and the Continental O-300 is the thing that will cost you money — plan for a top-end overhaul sooner than you would on a Lycoming, and check the exhaust and cylinders carefully. The military T-41A trainer was built from this model year, so some airframes on the civil register have hard institutional lives behind them and logbooks worth reading closely.
Compare with…
Put CESSNA 172F side by side with up to two other models.
- CESSNA 172F
What it is
| Seats | 4 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | tricycle |
| Engines | 1 |
| Engine | Continental O-300-D |
| Horsepower | 145 hp |
| Fuel | 100LL |
| Certification basis | CAR3 |
| Production start | 1965 |
| Production end | 1965 |
| Endorsements required | — |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 108 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | 520 nm |
| Service ceiling | 13,100 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 | 1,030 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | 796 lb |
| Max takeoff weight | 2,300 lb |
| Empty weight | 1,270 lb |
| Usable fuel | 39 gal |
| Fuel burn at cruise | 8.1 gal/h |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | $43,000 |
|---|---|
| Price, high | $130,000 |
| 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 | 1,550 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 717 |
| Median year built | 1965.0 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 27 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 5 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | 37.661 |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | 23.712 |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 151 |
| Transfers per 100 active | 21.063 |
| Airworthiness directives | 9 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 0 |
| Rate confidence | ok |
- Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 717 active.
- Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 717 active.
- Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 717 active.
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 3-4 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | 7.6 of 101 |
| Severity | 3.4 of 102 |
| Access | 6.7 of 103 |
| Support | 8.4 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 6.3 of 105 |
| Overall (sum of the categories shown) | 32.4 out of 506 |
These record scores treat CESSNA 172F as one design with the same aircraft registered under other names: it includes the record of aircraft once registered under CESSNA/WALKER. Prices are not combined.
- 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.