Aircraft model
PIPER PA-18-135
Everything here is true of every aircraft of the type, not of any one aircraft.
The Super Cub 135, the mid-power version from the mid-1950s. With 135 hp it climbs well and gets off the ground very short, which is the whole point of a Super Cub, and it carries 36 gallons for decent endurance. It sits between the 90 hp Super Cub 95 and the definitive 150 hp aeroplane in both capability and price.
The gross weight is 1,500 lb rather than the 1,750 lb of the PA-18-150, so the useful load is genuinely limited — two adults, full fuel and almost nothing else. Fabric is the recurring cost and should be the first question asked. The Lycoming O-290 is a sound engine but less common than the O-320 that replaced it and parts are less abundant. As with every Super Cub, most surviving aircraft have been modified — bigger engines, larger tyres, extended baggage, floats or skis — and those modifications determine what the aeroplane can actually do and what it is worth far more than the model designation does.
Compare with…
Put PIPER PA-18-135 side by side with up to two other models.
- PIPER PA-18-135
What it is
| Seats | 2 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | taildragger |
| Engines | 1 |
| Engine | Lycoming O-290-D2 |
| Horsepower | 135 hp |
| Fuel | 100LL |
| Certification basis | CAR3 |
| Production start | 1954 |
| Production end | 1956 |
| Endorsements required | tailwheel |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 95 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | 400 nm |
| Service ceiling | 16,000 ft |
| Climb rate | 900 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 37 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | — |
| Landing over 50 ft | — |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 2 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 600 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | 384 lb |
| Max takeoff weight | 1,500 lb |
| Empty weight | 900 lb |
| Usable fuel | 36 gal |
| Fuel burn at cruise | 7.6 gal/h |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | $105,000 |
|---|---|
| Price, high | $235,000 |
| Prices as of | 2026 |
| Engine TBO | 1,800 h |
| Overhaul cost, low | $26,000 |
| Overhaul cost, high | $36,000 |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 388 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 220 |
| Median year built | 1954.0 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 14 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 0 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | 63.641 |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | 40.912 |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 32 |
| Transfers per 100 active | 14.553 |
| Airworthiness directives | 2 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 0 |
| Rate confidence | ok |
- Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 220 active.
- Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 220 active.
- Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 220 active.
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 1-2 seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | 3 of 101 |
| Severity | 8.2 of 102 |
| Access | 6.3 of 103 |
| Support | 8 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 2.4 of 105 |
| Overall (sum of the categories shown) | 27.9 out of 506 |
These record scores treat PIPER PA-18-135 as one design with the same aircraft registered under other names: it includes 1 aircraft registered as PIPER PA-18-135 (L-21B). Prices are not combined.
- 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.