Cessna U206G
Everything here is true of every aircraft of the type, not of any one aircraft.
The U206G is the last and most numerous piston Stationair — 3,500 built with its turbo twin — with a 300-hp Continental IO-520-F, six seats, a 3,600-lb gross weight and the 44-inch double cargo door on the right. The 1978 handbook gives 147 knots at 75% power, 920 fpm, a 1,704-lb useful load on a standard aircraft, and 610 nm on 76 usable gallons; from the 1979 model year the integral 92-gallon wet wing gives 88 usable.
This is the benchmark utility single, which is why a 45-year-old example still asks $240,000 to $380,000 as a landplane and $649,000 as a re-engined amphibian. It carries a genuine 1,000-lb payload with full fuel, loads through the cargo door without removing seats, and tolerates the floats, big tyres and cargo pods that get bolted to it. The trade is that almost all of them have worked for a living — jump planes, floatplanes, pipeline and survey work — so hours, damage history and corrosion matter more than paint. The IO-520 runs to a 1,700-hour TBO but is known for crankcase and cylinder cracking; the 1977 nose gear, the foam-filled elevator corrosion ADs of the mid-1980s and the seat-rail AD are the airframe items to check, and the pre-1979 bladder-tank aircraft need their bladders and caps looked at. Many have been converted — IO-550s, Soloy and Rolls-Royce turbines — which changes the maintenance picture entirely and should be priced as a different aircraft. It needs a high-performance endorsement, nothing more, and insurers like it.
Variants of the Cessna 206 Stationair
- 206 · 1964 · 55 active
- U206 · 1964 · 52 active
- P206 · 1965 · 53 active
- P206A · 1966 · 31 active
- U206A · 1966 · 22 active
- P206B · 1967 · 24 active
- U206B · 1967 · 43 active
- P206C · 1968 · 18 active
- U206C · 1968 · 47 active
- P206D · 1969 · 28 active
- U206D · 1969 · 25 active
- P206E · 1970 · 9 active
- U206E · 1970 · 31 active
- TU206F · 1971 · 87 active
- U206F · 1975 · 231 active
- TU206 · 1977 · 1 active
- TU206G · 1977 · 206 active
- U206G · 1977 · 347 active · this page
- 206H · 1998 · 158 active
- T206 · 1998 · 1 active
- T206H · 1998 · 691 active
Also consider
- Cessna 185Score 22.3/50 · 6 seats · 145 kt
- Piper PA-32-260Score 29.8/50 · 6 seats · 136 kt
- Cessna 210-5(205)Score 33.1/50 · 6 seats · 140 kt
Compare with…
Put Cessna U206G side by side with up to three other models.
- Cessna U206G
Watch this model
One email a day if anything changes: new ADs and NTSB records.
What it is
| Seats | 6 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | tricycle |
| Engines | 1 |
| Engine | Continental IO-520-F |
| Horsepower | 300 hp |
| Fuel | 100LL |
| Certification basis | CAR3 |
| Production start | 1977 |
| Production end | 1986 |
| Endorsements required | high-performance |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 147 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | 610 nm |
| Service ceiling | — |
| Climb rate | — |
| Stall speed (Vso) | — |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | — |
| Landing over 50 ft | — |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 6 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 1,704 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | — |
| Max takeoff weight | — |
| Empty weight | — |
| Usable fuel | 88 gal |
| Fuel burn at cruise | — |
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, 5 or more seats.
| Maintenance reserve | hourly | not counted | |
| Insurance | fixed | $2,800/yr | |
| Annual inspection | fixed | $2,200/yr | |
| Hangar | fixed | $6,000/yr | |
| Rental rate, wet | for comparison |
Not in the totals: Maintenance reserve. We have no reliable default for this line; enter your figure to include it.
No fuel burn is on record for this model, so fuel is not included.
No TBO or overhaul cost is on record for this model, so the engine reserve is not included.
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 | $240,000 |
|---|---|
| Price, high | $649,000 |
| Prices as of | 2026 |
| Engine TBO | — |
| Overhaul cost, low | — |
| Overhaul cost, high | — |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 1,431 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 347 |
| Median year built | 1979.0 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 22 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 3 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | 63.41 |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | 20.172 |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 59 |
| Transfers per 100 active | 173 |
| Airworthiness directives | 14 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 0 |
| Rate confidence | ok |
- Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 347 active.
- Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 347 active.
- Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 347 active.
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 5-6 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | 8.4 of 101 |
| Severity | 5.6 of 102 |
| Access | 1.5 of 103 |
| Support | 8.4 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 4.5 of 105 |
| Overall (sum of the categories shown) | 28.4 out of 506 |
- Accident record: class median 38.8 · 75 models in class.
- Severity: class median 16.67.
- Access: class median 1,826.5.
- Support: class median 87.
- Liquidity: class median 17.96.
- 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