Aircraft model
PIPER J3C-50
Everything here is true of every aircraft of the type, not of any one aircraft.
The J3C-50: the 50 hp Continental A-50 version, approved on the same day as the A-40 aircraft and sharing its 1,025 lb maximum weight. Everything else -- the 35 ft 3 in wing, the steel tube fuselage, the tandem seats, the 12 gallon tank in front of the windscreen -- is the standard Cub. More power in a Cub buys climb and a shorter takeoff, not speed; the airframe runs out of aerodynamics long before it runs out of horsepower.
A J-3 is a slow, light, honest aeroplane with a stick, no electrics worth the name, and a fuel gauge that is a wire bobbing in front of the windscreen. It teaches stick-and-rudder flying better than anything built since and it will not take you anywhere in a hurry or in weather. Ownership is cheap by aviation standards and the parts supply is excellent because so many were built, but the airframe is steel tube and fabric: the recover is the big bill, tube corrosion under the fabric is the thing that ends aeroplanes, and a tailwheel endorsement plus real instruction is not optional.
Compare with…
Put PIPER J3C-50 side by side with up to two other models.
- PIPER J3C-50
What it is
| Seats | 2 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | taildragger |
| Engines | 1 |
| Engine | Continental A-50-1 |
| Horsepower | 50 hp |
| Fuel | 100LL |
| Certification basis | CAR3 |
| Production start | 1938 |
| Production end | 1940 |
| Endorsements required | tailwheel |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 61 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | 190 nm |
| Service ceiling | 9,775 ft |
| Climb rate | 346 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 33 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | 730 ft |
| Landing over 50 ft | 470 ft |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 2 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 345 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | 273 lb |
| Max takeoff weight | 1,025 lb |
| Empty weight | 680 lb |
| Usable fuel | 12 gal |
| Fuel burn at cruise | 2.8 gal/h |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | $27,000 |
|---|---|
| Price, high | $55,000 |
| Prices as of | 2026 |
| Engine TBO | — |
| Overhaul cost, low | — |
| Overhaul cost, high | — |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 57 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 13 |
| Median year built | 1938.5 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 1 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Transfers per 100 active | — |
| Airworthiness directives | 1 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 0 |
| Rate confidence | none |
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 1-2 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | —1 |
| Severity | —2 |
| Access | 7.9 of 103 |
| Support | 2.9 of 104 |
| Liquidity | —5 |
- Accident record: class median 25 · 181 models in class.
- Severity: class median 5.
- Access: class median 987.
- Support: class median 72.
- Liquidity: class median 20.59.
- 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.