Two-seat piston trainer

What it costs to own a Cessna 150

The 150, and the 152 that replaced it, taught a large share of American pilots to fly. Two seats, 100 horsepower, and systems simple enough to cover in an afternoon. For a club or a small school it is usually the cheapest way to get someone into the left seat, and for a CFI building time it is hard to beat on cost per hour.

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Cessna 150 at a glance

Public manufacturer and POH figures, rounded to what owners see in practice. Your airframe will differ.

Engine

Continental O-200-A

100 hp

Fuel burn

5–6 gph

Cruise

95–105 KTAS

Useful load

~500 lbs

Seats

2

TBO

1,800 hrs

What it costs to run

Starting numbers for a Cessna 150, with the two figures that vary most between owners left editable. Change either one and the totals update.

Use your own numbers

Fuel and hangar vary more between owners than anything else. The rest holds at the Cessna 150 baseline.

At 5.5 gph, that is $35.75 an hour in fuel.

$250 a month.

Fixed (annual)

$6,200

Hangar, insurance, annual, reserves

Typical range $6,000–$10,000

Variable / hour

$57

Fuel, oil, maintenance reserve

Typical range $55–$75

All-in / hour

$119

Fixed plus variable, at 100 hrs/year

Typical range $110–$160

Need financing in the number? the cost-of-ownership calculator takes a purchase price, down payment, and loan terms, and lets you change utilization and every reserve line as well.

Common ownership patterns

How Cessna 150 owners usually split the airplane. Each one changes the cost math, the scheduling problem, and what needs to be written into the agreement.

Club trainer

Flown hard by a lot of students, which is what keeps the per-hour number low.

Hour builder

A cheap way to put time in the logbook on the way to a commercial certificate.

Two CFIs on one airplane

Instructors splitting an airframe for their own flying outside of work.

Run the split in the partnership calculator, and for the agreement itself see the co-ownership guide.

Maintenance worth knowing about

Items that come up on this type specifically. Worth having in hand at a pre-buy and at every annual.

  • Seat rail cracks are an airworthiness item with fatal accidents behind them. Look at them yourself at every annual.
  • Fuel cap O-rings dry out and let water into the tanks. Cheap to replace, expensive to ignore.
  • Brake cylinders get soft as the airplane ages.
  • Check carb heat operation and the condition of the exhaust risers.
Keep the due-dates straight: the free inspection due-date calculator covers the annual, 100-hour, ELT, transponder, and pitot-static, and the engine reserve calculator sizes what to set aside per hour for the overhaul. For a fleet, Aloft360 tracks all of it against actual Hobbs time.

Cessna 150 FAQ

What does it cost to own a Cessna 150?
Fixed costs — hangar, insurance, the annual, and reserves — run $6,000–$10,000 a year. Fuel, oil, and maintenance reserve add $55–$75 for every hour you fly. Put those together at 100 hrs/year and you land around $110–$160 an hour. Your own numbers will move with hangar rates, hull value, and how much you fly, so run them in the cost-of-ownership calculator.
What's the fuel burn on a Cessna 150?
5–6 gph at typical cruise power. Treat that as a planning figure. Power setting, altitude, how you lean, and what you are carrying all change it.
How long is the engine TBO on a Cessna 150?
1,800 hrs per the manufacturer. Divide the expected overhaul cost by hours-to-TBO and set that aside every hour, or the bill arrives all at once.
Who typically owns a Cessna 150?
Primary students, small schools, CFIs building time, and clubs that want a trainer with low fixed costs and very little to go wrong.

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Track your Cessna 150 in Aloft360

Inspections, squawks, flight logs, per-owner hours, and expenses in one place. Starts at $9/month for one aircraft, with a 30-day free trial and no credit card.