Aircraft model
CESSNA A188B
Everything here is true of every aircraft of the type, not of any one aircraft.
The AGtruck, Cessna's agricultural aeroplane: a single-seat, 300 hp tailwheel machine with a 280-gallon chemical hopper between the engine and the cockpit, built to spray and spread crops at low level all day. It is working equipment, not transport, and the cockpit sits high with a wire cutter above it and a reinforced cabin structure designed to protect the pilot in an impact.
As a purchase it is evaluated like farm machinery: hopper size, engine time, airframe hours and corrosion from years of chemical exposure, which is the specific thing that kills these airframes. It spends its life heavy, low, in turbulence and doing very high numbers of takeoffs and landings, all of which is hard on the structure. It operates in the restricted category, which carries its own operating limitations, and agricultural flying requires a commercial certificate plus, in practice, specific training and a specialist insurance market. It is a taildragger with 300 hp and demands real skill. Nobody should buy one as a general-purpose aeroplane.
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- CESSNA A188B
What it is
| Seats | 1 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | taildragger |
| Engines | 1 |
| Engine | Continental IO-520-D |
| Horsepower | 300 hp |
| Fuel | 100LL |
| Certification basis | FAR23 |
| Production start | 1971 |
| Production end | 1983 |
| Endorsements required | high-performance;tailwheel |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 100 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | 300 nm |
| Service ceiling | — |
| Climb rate | — |
| Stall speed (Vso) | — |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | — |
| Landing over 50 ft | — |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 1 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 2,050 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | 1,738 lb |
| Max takeoff weight | 4,000 lb |
| Empty weight | 1,950 lb |
| Usable fuel | 52 gal |
| Fuel burn at cruise | 16.8 gal/h |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | $60,000 |
|---|---|
| Price, high | $125,000 |
| Prices as of | 2026 |
| Engine TBO | 1,700 h |
| Overhaul cost, low | $48,000 |
| Overhaul cost, high | $68,000 |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 2,083 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 212 |
| Median year built | 1975.0 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 20 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 2 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | 94.341 |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | 9.432 |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 48 |
| Transfers per 100 active | 22.643 |
| 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 212 active.
- Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 212 active.
- Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 212 active.
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 1-2 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | 8.3 of 101 |
| Severity | 4.6 of 102 |
| Access | 3.1 of 103 |
| Support | 7.8 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 6.1 of 105 |
| Overall (sum of the categories shown) | 29.9 out of 506 |
- Accident record: class median 29.1 · 174 models in class.
- Severity: class median 9.09.
- Access: class median 974.
- Support: class median 81.
- Liquidity: class median 20.47.
- 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.