AOPA’s 152 Reimagined

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One obstacle to learning to fly these days is that so many of the GA training fleet is old … and many definitely look their age. It wasn’t that long ago that I cancelled a nighttime demo flight for a prospective student because I noticed that some of the old Cessna’s interior lights were inoperative. And early Cessnas didn’t offer much cockpit lighting to begin with to see the instruments.

Then I found a few bruises outside that had been covered with Duct-Tape and I just said no. A few years earlier, I’d tried to check out in an old Piper down in Florida that looked like it hadn’t been washed in 20 years. It flew OK, but after spending the money to fly it, I decided to pass on putting my family into it.

I’m not the only instructor nor renter that’s ever faced this situation either.

I was pretty excited last week to see a canary yellow Cessna 152 sitting outside of the south door of the AOPA building at AirVenture. The airplane was part of AOPA’s 152 reimagined project to encourage more people not only to learn to fly, but to also get back into the air at a relatively low cost. The airplane at Oshkosh had been rebuilt inside and out … new paint, new interior — even those cheapie plastic parts Cessna used were all new. The engine had been rebuilt and reset to zero time and the airplane had new Garmin avionics including a GPS installed.

This practically new Cessna 152 can be had for $99,000, or $89,000 for a Cessna 150. AOPA chose Aviat in Afton Wyoming to handle the refurbishment work and you can pick the color scheme when you order one.

Yeah but …

Now before you cough at the $99,000 figure, don’t forget that a Cessna 162 Skycatcher, a much less capable airplane, was selling for $150,000 brand new before Cessna cancelled production last year. The price of a brand new 172 can easily top $300,000.

What I think should make the reimagined 150 and 152 even more tantalizing to someone trying to build time with two or three other pilots, or a flight school after a rugged inexpensive airplane, is that it costs just a tad over 60 bucks an hour to operate … including the fuel. AOPA’s even willing to finance 70% of the purchase.

Of course, you could go out and find your own used 150 or 152 for much less than $99,000. You’d need to find a company to strip it all down bare for the inspection, replace all the interior bits, hang a new motor on it and add the fresh instruments and avionics. Could you do it for less than $99 grand? Probably. But I think that’s a lot of work, especially for someone new to aviation.

There will be plenty of experienced pilots out there ready to tell you about all the other airplanes you can find for less money, but if those airplanes were such a great deal, I’d have to ask why more people aren’t buying them. AOPA doesn’t make a dime on these airplanes either.

Think about this … if four wanna-be pilots came up $7500 each, they could build a lot of flight time for not a whole lot of money, especially in a time when the magic 1,500 hour ATP limit seems unreachable. Personally, I like this idea. But if you have a better one, let me know.

You’ll find more info about the 152 reimagined at AOPA.org where I’m sure you’re already a member.

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Rob Mark, Publisher