Aircraft model
CESSNA 180C
Everything here is true of every aircraft of the type, not of any one aircraft.
The 1959 Skywagon, mechanically unchanged from the year either side. It is the four-seat tailwheel utility aeroplane that the whole backcountry market was built around: 230 hp, a constant-speed propeller, a strong airframe and the ability to use surfaces no nosewheel aeroplane should attempt.
Prices have risen steadily for two decades because supply is fixed — none has been built since 1981 — and demand from backcountry and float operators has not softened. That means you are buying a sixty-five-year-old airframe that has probably worked for its living, so damage history, corrosion and logbook continuity matter more than in almost any other type. The specific structural checks are the gear box, the spar carry-through and the tailcone. A tailwheel endorsement and real currency are not formalities.
Compare with…
Put CESSNA 180C side by side with up to two other models.
- CESSNA 180C
What it is
| Seats | 4 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | taildragger |
| Engines | 1 |
| Engine | Continental O-470-K |
| Horsepower | 230 hp |
| Fuel | 100LL |
| Certification basis | CAR3 |
| Production start | 1959 |
| Production end | 1959 |
| Endorsements required | high-performance;tailwheel |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 143 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | 600 nm |
| Service ceiling | 19,600 ft |
| Climb rate | 1,100 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 48 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | 1,205 ft |
| Landing over 50 ft | 1,365 ft |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 4 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 1,070 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | 740 lb |
| Max takeoff weight | 2,650 lb |
| Empty weight | 1,580 lb |
| Usable fuel | 55 gal |
| Fuel burn at cruise | 12.9 gal/h |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | $145,000 |
|---|---|
| Price, high | $325,000 |
| Prices as of | 2026 |
| Engine TBO | 1,500 h |
| Overhaul cost, low | $40,000 |
| Overhaul cost, high | $55,000 |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 243 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 56 |
| Median year built | 1960.0 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 7 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 0 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | 125 · thin base (low)1 |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | 125 · thin base (low)2 |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 8 |
| Transfers per 100 active | 14.29 · thin base (low)3 |
| Airworthiness directives | 6 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 0 |
| Rate confidence | low |
- Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 56 active.
- Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 56 active.
- Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 56 active.
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 3-4 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | —1 |
| Severity | —2 |
| Access | 6.4 of 103 |
| Support | 2.4 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 1.4 of 105 |
- 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.