Cessna 150 - Deal or No Deal?

Definitely a good price if everything checks out on the prebuy inspection.

At its age, 5000 hours equates to 113 hours per year, seems perfectly reasonable that it wasn't a flight school airplane.
 
Talking about "new" accouterments that were installed over a decade ago makes it seem like the aircraft hasn't had significant maintenance in some time. I'd want to know when and where that engine was redone before I sign the bottom line. That said, the price does not seem out of line with what's presented.
 
Sounds like a steal to me, mid-time engine, with many new part replacements. Im sure many will jump on it
 
Mike5250 said:
Fair price. I would check year of engine overhaul. Hopefully you get another 6-800 hours out of the engine, but when you do need an overhaul you're looking at almost the purchase price.
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That is really the problem with this airplane. If it were well overhauled, if it were well maintained, if it flew regularly since the overhaul, only then there may be a case. Otherwise the O-200 is not likely to make TBO (but what do I know, it's only Mike Arman talking in his book endorsed by The 150-152 Society). I'd love to find a 152 with 1300 SMOH for $15k (because it has a bulletproof Lycoming), but a 1971 150? I don't think I'd bother. I almost bought one of those once and I suspect my wife saved me from a lot of trouble.

Another thing, I noticed that owners really go through these airplanes once they pry them from the hangar of a retiree in Florida where they were rotting away. Chances are, you aren't as thin as a baby boomer. The useful load is nil when flying with a passenger, in fact you're going to offload. That cuts the legs of it even further. So, it's a solo time builder. Once you built your time, what do you do? That's right, you have to get rid of it. And by that time, the 1300 hour engine is a 1500 hour engine, if you are lucky.

So what I invariably see at the airport, Ben buys a 150 (the same week when I put the deposit for one), then in 2 months he's selling it. Or another guy, "loved the airplane, so many wonderful cross-countries, but it's so slow, it's a massive pain, and you can't take any passengers". And there's a pile of them in the airpark a few miles south, where owners gave up selling them, because they want far too much for airplanes that aren't worth it.
 
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And the sky is falling....... C150 are proven trainers. Find a solid aircraft. Burn 5.5 gallons while actually doing many take offs and landings while in the pattern. Eat crackers and stay thin because you're not well off and budgeting to chase a dream. Build your time. Sell when you're done or able to afford better. If purchased at a fair price you will not lose much money. Yes, if something catastrophic happens, then no, you will not recoup. But I read on here and the news where 250,000$+ aircraft are having catastrophic failures.

So, do your research. Crunch real numbers. Be proud of being an aircraft owner and working hard to chase a dream. Don't let others knock your C150. Hell, worse thing that could happen is that you lose less than 20k on a plane. You and I know people who lose that on cars, boats and Harleys.
 
James331 said:
The more hours you put on the more the fuel burn and whatnot adds up.

Also a 172 is not nearly as good of a trainer as a 150/2
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No argument there. A Cessna 150/152 will make a hell of a pilot, especially if him/her is determined to conquer the wind. They also really make you appreciate more horsepower lol.
 
We have a C-150 that we have had for over 9 years now (almost 10). The useful load with full fuel is 386 lbs. Not really all that bad if you are flying with a good friend (accommodations are pretty tight). Performance is right at book numbers according to my checks. Most 150's won't haul around a couple of 250 pounders, but if you are at that weight, you may need to think about dieting anyway :). We previously had a C-172 for several years, and the 150 is way more fun to fly, just not quite as fast. The 150 isn't nearly as expensive either. For a comparable 172 to the plane the OP listed, you would probably be paying about twice as much.
 
I've got an IFR-certified C150M that I use for training students and for personal enjoyment. Right now it's solely in use for personal enjoyment and IFR currency; the premium is $740. When I put instruction and rental coverage on it, the premium jumps to $2,900. Other than that, the expenses are reasonable. I'll have to upgrade to an ADS-B transponder soon, but it already has an ADS-B encoder installed.

People tend to over exaggerate the weight limitation a little. The 150M has a 500-lb payload. At 175 lbs, I can fit even a 220 lb passenger with 16 gallons of fuel and still have 25 lbs left over. Most 245 pounders don't want to be in a C150 in the first place, though.

16 gallons of fuel gets you over 2.5 hours of legal daytime VFR flight. The max usable is 22.5. If you take less than full fuel, just make a fuel stop. This isn't the airlines -- we can pretty much land these puppies anywhere. (Don't forget to check the NOTAMs, though...).
 
hockeyrcks9901 said:
Luckily my wife is a very practical person and does not have a shoe thing, or a purse thing, etc

I think she has 5 pairs of shoes and one purse.

If I didn't just buy a "fun" car and have to replace the AC at the house she'd probably be okay with it.
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Gift her the fun car for her next birthday, your anniversary, first Thursday in the week,whatever...and buy the plane.
 
I've seen some butt-ugly 150s that people have paid $15,000 for in recent years. This looks like a cream puff by comparison. It will sell fast.
 
GRG55 said:
Gift her the fun car for her next birthday, your anniversary, first Thursday in the week,whatever...and buy the plane.
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But I like my car...vroom vroom. And she doesn't want to learn how to drive a manual.

Hopefully once I get the PPL and show her how nice it is to make trips to Key West or St. Augustine or wherever in a short time, she'll see the benefit of something like a 172 or Piper (pick a fighting name).

Long term plans are to secretly build an RV-10...I think I can pull that off, right?
 
hockeyrcks9901 said:
Long term plans are to secretly build an RV-10...I think I can pull that off, right?
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Not an RV10, but a used two seater RV is certainly one of the budget friendly and fast ways to fly. If you find one that is ugly but well built your budget gets into 4_seater certified territory.

Lose the fancy car, buy a plane. My daily driver is a 2001 Subaru ( I do have some nicer cars for wife+kids).
 
weilke said:
Not an RV10, but a used two seater RV is certainly one of the budget friendly and fast ways to fly. If you find one that is ugly but well built your budget gets into 4_seater certified territory.

Lose the fancy car, buy a plane. My daily driver is a 2001 Subaru ( I do have some nicer cars for wife+kids).
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It's not fancy, it's a budget fun car: Ford Focus ST. I still daily my 1997 Integra

Also, I can have both and afford it but as I've said earlier in the thread I'm at 2.8 hours into my PPL training. Certainly not the time to be considering buying a plane for me. I know some people purchase something like this 150 for training but I don't feel that's right for me.

The RV-10 would be a fun project. I'm an engineer and love building things so that would be why I would go experimental, not for budget reasons. The "secret" part was tongue in cheek.
 
Harold Rutila said:
The 150M has a 500-lb payload.
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Almost. I flew N2966V that was a 150M with 1128 empty 472 useful. With a 140 lbs (yes, he was tiiiiiny) instructor, I was able to take 13.5 gallons. That's 2 hours at most. No baggage!
 
zaitcev said:
Almost. I flew N2966V that was a 150M with 1128 empty 472 useful. With a 140 lbs (yes, he was tiiiiiny) instructor, I was able to take 13.5 gallons. That's 2 hours at most. No baggage!
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What a bunch of *******!!!

Id fill the 150 with full fuel,, load my 170 lbs lard ass in and my CFI at 250 lbs would get in...
I asked,, if we were really!!! over gross??? He would say,,,, WE Will do just fine!!!!

We Always,,,,, did,, just fine....
 
robert lomax said:
What a bunch of *******!!!

Id fill the 150 with full fuel,, load my 170 lbs lard ass in and my CFI at 250 lbs would get in...
I asked,, if we were really!!! over gross??? He would say,,,, WE Will do just fine!!!!

We Always,,,,, did,, just fine....
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:D So what did you learn from that experience? CF(I)nstructor was teaching you something.
 
It was a pain in the rear but when I used the C152 I'd always try and meet the inbound CFI and/or renter so they wouldn't refuel it. I only needed about 2 hours worth for a lesson. Made the student do the W&B after we manually measured the fuel level. Too far you say? Maybe. After they have their Certificate they can do what they want but hopefully I instilled good habits in them.
 
The amount of maintenance work listed indicates someone who appears to be concerned about keeping things up. As far as the engine is concerned "never a trainer" is a bigger red flag than one which was flown 100 hours a month.
 
mscard88 said:
It was a pain in the rear but when I used the C152 I'd always try and meet the inbound CFI and/or renter so they wouldn't refuel it. I only needed about 2 hours worth for a lesson. Made the student do the W&B after we manually measured the fuel level. Too far you say? Maybe. After they have their Certificate they can do what they want but hopefully I instilled good habits in them.
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Measuring fuel and doing w&b may keep them from planting the plane in a field. I think it was good for them to do.
 
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