Aircraft model
NORTH AMERICAN NAVION L-17C
Everything here is true of every aircraft of the type, not of any one aircraft.
The Navion A is Ryan's uprated version, with the 205 hp E-185-9 and a higher gross weight. The extra twenty horsepower addresses the original's main weakness — a heavy airframe on modest power — and lifts cruise to 140 knots with a useful load of a thousand pounds.
It is the better of the two Ryan Navions and the difference matters more than the numbers suggest, because the aeroplane is heavy and the original was working hard. At 205 hp it crosses the high-performance threshold, so an endorsement is required where the 185 hp aircraft needs none. Parts remain the central difficulty: the Continental E-series is out of production and the type has passed through many corporate owners, so the type club and specialist suppliers matter more than usual. The canopy and the build quality are what owners talk about.
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Put NORTH AMERICAN NAVION L-17C side by side with up to two other models.
- NORTH AMERICAN NAVION L-17C
What it is
| Seats | 4 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | tricycle |
| Engines | 1 |
| Engine | Continental E-185-9 |
| Horsepower | 205 hp |
| Fuel | 100LL |
| Certification basis | CAR3 |
| Production start | 1949 |
| Production end | 1951 |
| Endorsements required | complex;high-performance |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 140 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | 500 nm |
| Service ceiling | 16,500 ft |
| Climb rate | 900 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 48 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | 1,350 ft |
| Landing over 50 ft | 1,300 ft |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 4 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 1,000 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | 760 lb |
| Max takeoff weight | 2,850 lb |
| Empty weight | 1,850 lb |
| Usable fuel | 40 gal |
| Fuel burn at cruise | 11.5 gal/h |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | $35,000 |
|---|---|
| Price, high | $100,000 |
| Prices as of | 2026 |
| Engine TBO | 1,500 h |
| Overhaul cost, low | $34,000 |
| Overhaul cost, high | $48,000 |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 1 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 0 |
| Median year built | — |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 0 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 0 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | — |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | — |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 0 |
| Transfers per 100 active | — |
| Airworthiness directives | 0 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 0 |
| Rate confidence | none |
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 5-6 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | —1 |
| Severity | —2 |
| Access | —3 |
| Support | 0.1 of 104 |
| Liquidity | —5 |
- Accident record: class median 38.14 · 75 models in class.
- Severity: class median 10.
- Access: class median 1,826.5.
- Support: class median 74.
- 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.