Cessna 182 vs 206: Cost Per Hour to Own

Most shoppers assume the Stationair is basically a Skylane with two extra seats bolted in the back, so the running cost should be a little higher and not much more. The real gap is wider than that, and it is not mainly fuel. When you work out Cessna 182 vs Cessna 206 ownership cost per hour line by line, the 206 usually lands 20 to 35 percent higher, and the biggest single drivers are the engine reserve and the insurance premium, not the fuel flow.

The other thing buyers get backwards: on a cost-per-pound-hauled basis, the 206 can be the cheaper airplane. If you genuinely need the additional load capacity, paying more per hour to carry several hundred extra pounds of passengers or cargo can be a worthwhile trade. If you do not need the load, you are paying a freight airplane's bills to carry two people and a flight bag.

Think of it as a half-ton pickup versus a three-quarter-ton. Both do the school run. Only one of them tows the trailer without complaining, and you pay for that capability every month whether the trailer is hooked up or not.

The Short Answer

If you fly two to four people, bags, and the occasional dog on trips of 300 to 600 nautical miles, the Cessna 182 Skylane is the cheaper airplane to own and the easier one to insure, and you will not miss the capability you gave up. If you routinely load four or more adults with real baggage, operate off short or rough strips, haul cargo through the double doors, run floats, or fly jumpers, the Cessna 206 Stationair earns its higher hourly number and the 182 will quietly frustrate you every time you do a weight and balance. The turbocharged T206H is a separate decision again: it buys you high-altitude performance and costs more in fuel, overhaul, and top-end maintenance than either normally aspirated airplane.

Buying In and the Engine You Inherit

Both families span forty-plus years of production, so "182" and "206" each cover several different cost structures. The practical split is by engine.

The classic 182P and 182Q of the 1970s and early 1980s carry the Continental O-470 series, 230 horsepower. Continental's published baseline TBO for the O-470-R is 1,500 hours for earlier engine serial numbers and 1,700 hours for qualifying later engines. The O-470-U is listed at 2,000 or 2,200 hours, depending on engine serial number, with additional conditions and extensions potentially affecting the applicable interval. The restart 182S and 182T, built from 1997 onward, use the fuel-injected, 230-horsepower Lycoming IO-540-AB1A5. Under Lycoming's July 2026 guidance, qualifying factory-new or factory-rebuilt engines have a recommended 2,600-hour TBO, while overhauled engines generally retain a 2,000-hour baseline, subject to applicable conditions and extensions.

On the 206 side, the U206F and U206G use the 300-horsepower Continental IO-520-F, with a published TBO of 1,700 or 1,900 hours depending on engine serial number. The turbocharged TU206G uses the 310-horsepower TSIO-520-M, which has a shorter recommended overhaul interval that also depends on engine history and eligibility. The restart 206H uses the 300-horsepower Lycoming IO-540-AC1A5, which qualifies for a 2,600-hour TBO when factory-new or factory-rebuilt and otherwise eligible, while overhauled examples generally retain a 2,000-hour baseline. The turbocharged T206H uses the 310-horsepower TIO-540-AJ1A, which retains a 2,000-hour recommended TBO. The FAA type certificate data sheets to read before you buy are 3A13 for the 182 series and A4CE for the 205, 206 and 207 family.

That spread matters because the engine is the single largest maintenance line item in either airplane. A six-cylinder overhaul is a five-figure event no matter which badge is on the case, and a 300-horsepower six costs more to overhaul than a 230-horsepower six. In 2025 and 2026, shops have generally been quoting somewhere in the $40,000 to $55,000 range installed for an O-470 and roughly $55,000 to $75,000 for the big-bore Lycoming and Continental 540s and 520s, depending on cylinders, accessories, and whether the crankshaft survives inspection. Turbocharged versions sit at the top of that band before you touch the turbo, wastegate, and exhaust.

Why It Matters: A mid-time engine is not a discount, it is a deferred bill with a due date. On a 1,700-hour-TBO IO-520 flown 100 hours a year, "800 hours remaining" means you are eight years from writing a $55,000 check — and the calendar can beat the tach to it if the airplane sits.

As of October 2026, Flying411 had six Cessna 182 aircraft listed, asking $125,000 to $415,000 with a median of $185,000, spanning model years 1962 to 2008 and a median total time of 5,250 hours. Those are asking prices on live listings, not appraised values, and the spread tells you the real story: condition, avionics, and time remaining on the engine move a 182 price more than the model year does. Our deeper walk through the family differences is in Cessna 172 vs 182 vs 206: How Do They Differ?.

Edge: Cessna 182 — lower acquisition cost at every comparable vintage, and a cheaper engine to put back together.

Fuel and the Rest of the Direct Hourly Cost

Direct cost is what the airplane consumes while the propeller turns: fuel, oil, routine maintenance per hour, and the money you put aside for the engine and propeller.

A 230-horsepower 182 burns roughly 12 to 14 gallons an hour in normal cruise. A normally aspirated 206 at 300 horsepower burns roughly 15 to 17, and a T206H worked hard up high will show 17 to 19. At the $6.50 to $7.50 a gallon many self-serve pumps were charging for 100LL through 2025 and 2026, that is about $85 to $100 an hour in the Skylane against $105 to $130 in the Stationair. Call it $20 to $35 an hour of difference. Real, but not the headline most people expect.

The engine reserve is where the gap widens. Divide overhaul cost by TBO and the 182's O-470 lands near $20 to $25 an hour. The 182T's Lycoming 540 lands near $28 to $35. The 206H's bigger Lycoming 540 lands near $30 to $38, and the older IO-520-F, with its shorter 1,700-hour TBO, lands in the same place despite a lower overhaul price. Add propeller overhaul reserve — three-blade props on the heavier airplanes, typically $4,000 to $7,000 every six to eight years — and the 206 is already $15 to $20 an hour behind before anyone opens a cowling. If you want the method rather than the numbers, we lay it out in How Much to Set Aside Per Flight Hour.

Keep in Mind: TBO is a manufacturer recommendation, not a legal limit, for private Part 91 operation. It is still the number your reserve should be built on, because cylinders, camshafts and crankshafts do not read the regulations.

Edge: Cessna 182 — about $35 to $55 an hour cheaper in direct costs alone, depending on vintage.

Those all-in figures assume hangar, insurance, annual inspection, database subscriptions and a working maintenance budget, and exclude the cost of your capital and any depreciation. Fly 200 hours a year instead of 100 and every fixed cost per hour halves — which is why two owners of identical airplanes can honestly quote numbers $80 apart.

Flying411 keeps Skylane and Stationair listings in one place, so you can compare engine time, avionics and asking price side by side instead of piecing it together from five tabs.

Fixed Costs: Insurance, Hangar and the Annual

This is where the 206 quietly runs away from the 182, and most first-time buyers do not see it coming until the quotes arrive.

Insurance is priced on hull value, pilot experience, and what the airplane is used for. A 182 is one of the most familiar risks in general aviation: underwriters have seen tens of thousands of them, instructors are everywhere, and a 300-hour private pilot with an instrument rating can usually get a sensible quote with a few hours of dual. The 206 is a heavier, faster-loading, higher-value airframe that is frequently used for jump operations, floats, and backcountry work, and the whole model's loss history reflects that. Expect a higher premium for the same hull value, a longer list of open-pilot requirements, and in some cases a demand for ten or more hours of make-and-model dual before you fly it solo.

Hangar cost scales with wingspan and the door you need. The 206's wingspan is close to the 182's, so in most markets you are in the same rent bracket, but at fields that price by square footage the bigger airplane nudges you up a tier.

Annual inspections run higher on the 206 for the simple reason that there is more airplane. Six seats and their tracks, double cargo doors with their own hardware, a heavier landing gear, and in the turbocharged versions an entire induction and exhaust system that requires careful inspection every year. A clean normally aspirated 206 annual is not dramatically worse than a 182's; a 206 that has spent a decade hauling jumpers or sitting on floats near salt water is a different animal entirely.

Heads Up: Airworthiness Directive 2011-10-09 covers seat rail and seat lock inspections across Cessna single-engine models, including both the 182 and 206 families. It is a recurring item in many cases. Check the compliance history before you buy, not after.

Edge: Cessna 182 — typically the cheaper insurance by a meaningful margin, and the less expensive annual.

Maintenance Reality and Known Trouble Spots

Neither airplane is fragile. Both are 1950s-rooted designs built with fat margins and supported by a deep parts network, which is exactly why they hold value. The differences are in detail and in history.

Cessna's Supplemental Inspection Documents, usually called SIDs, define structural inspections for the 100 and 200 series airframes as they age. In the United States they are not mandatory for Part 91 operations, but several regulators abroad — Australia's CASA among them — have made them compulsory, and plenty of US shops now reference them when an airframe is high-time or has lived a hard life. A SID campaign on a tired airframe can run into five figures. Ask whether any have been done, and ask to see what was found.

On the Continental-powered airplanes, exhaust systems and cylinders deserve attention; on the turbocharged 206s, add the turbocharger, wastegate and heat-cycled exhaust to the list, and budget for them as consumables rather than surprises. Both families share routine ignition work — magnetos on every one of these engines carry a 500-hour inspection requirement from the manufacturers, and the decision to inspect, overhaul or replace is a recurring owner expense we cover in Magneto 500-Hour Check: Overhaul or Replace?.

Good to Know: The 206's working-airplane résumé cuts both ways. Jump, float and charter airframes often have beautiful logbooks because they were maintained to a commercial standard — and high cycle counts, tired paint, and worn interiors. A 182 that spent its life in a private hangar flying 60 hours a year may look better and have a drier, less-exercised engine.

Flying411 keeps total time, engine time and model year on every listing in one place, so you can screen for the maintenance story before you spend money on a pre-buy.

Edge: Draw on the airframe, 182 on the powerplant. The normally aspirated 206 is no harder to maintain than a 182 per inspection hour; it simply has more systems and bigger parts. The turbocharged versions of either family are the expensive ones.

Cost Per Pound and Cost Per Seat

Now flip the question. Dollars per hour is only half of a cost comparison; the other half is what the hour bought you.

A 182T and a 206H cruise at roughly the same speed. The Cessna 182T carries 87 usable gallons, while the 206H carries either 88 or 87 usable gallons depending on serial number, making their full-fuel capacities nearly identical. The difference is what you can put in the cabin. A typical 182T with 1,100 pounds of useful load, filled to the tabs, has something in the region of 580 pounds left for people and bags — three adults and light luggage, and that is it. A 206H with 1,400 pounds of useful load, same full fuel, leaves roughly 880 pounds. That is four adults plus gear, or three adults plus a serious load of cargo through doors wide enough to take a stretcher or a pallet of supplies.

Run it as cost per pound-hour. At $300 an hour and 880 pounds of payload, the 206H costs about 34 cents per pound carried. At $300 an hour and 580 pounds, the 182T costs about 52 cents. When you are actually filling the airplane, the Stationair is the more efficient machine by a wide margin. When you are not, the number is meaningless and you are simply spending more.

Why It Matters: The honest test is not "could I ever use six seats" but "how many times last year would I have been over gross in the 182." If the answer is zero or one, buy the Skylane and rent something bigger for that one trip. If the answer is a dozen, the 206 is cheaper than the compromises.

Our method for building your own numbers is in How to Calculate Aircraft Operating Cost Per Hour, and if the six-seat mission is what drew you here, the Cessna 206 or Cherokee Six 300? comparison covers the other obvious candidate.

Edge: Cessna 206 — clearly cheaper per pound and per seat when the airplane is actually loaded.

Which One Should You Buy?

The family cross-country owner. Two adults, two kids, 80 to 120 hours a year, mostly 2- to 4-hour legs to paved airports. Buy the 182. A good 182P or 182Q keeps the all-in number near $250 to $290 an hour at 100 hours a year, insurance is straightforward, and the airplane will carry everything you actually load into it. Put the money you saved into avionics or into the engine fund. If you are also weighing a composite alternative, our Cessna 182 vs Cirrus SR22 comparison covers that trade.

The load hauler. Lodge operator, backcountry flyer, photo and survey work, a business that moves equipment, or a family of six that is genuinely a family of six. Buy the 206, and buy a normally aspirated one unless you live in or regularly cross high terrain. Budget $330 to $380 an hour all-in at 100 hours a year, get insurance quotes before you sign anything, and pay for the most thorough pre-buy you can find — the 206's working history is where the risk lives.

The high-country operator. Mountain west, hot-and-high departures, or routes that need you above weather at 16,000 to 20,000 feet. The T206H is the right tool and no amount of 182 will substitute for it. Accept the higher fuel flow, the turbo and exhaust maintenance, and the oxygen or pressurization-free realities of flying that high. It is the most expensive of the four options per hour and the only one that does the job.

Pro Tip: Whichever you buy, ask the seller for the last three annual inspection write-ups rather than just the logbook summary. The list of discrepancies found — and what was deferred — tells you more about next year's bills than total time ever will.

Buy the Mission, Then Budget for It

The Cessna 182 vs Cessna 206 ownership cost per hour question has a clean answer: the Skylane is cheaper, by roughly $50 to $90 an hour all-in at typical private-owner utilization, and the gap comes from fuel, engine reserve, insurance and the annual in roughly that order of size. But cheaper per hour and cheaper per trip are not the same thing. An owner who flies the 206 full is getting more airplane per dollar than an owner who flies the 182 half empty.

Decide what you will load into the airplane on your ten most common flights, do the weight and balance on paper before you shop, and let that pick the model. Then build the reserve account on the first of every month, not after the cylinder fails.

Flying411 keeps Cessna 182 and 206 listings in one place, so you can compare model year, total time and asking price without guessing at the gaps.

When you are ready to compare listings, visitFlying411and see what is on the market today.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much more does a Cessna 206 cost per hour than a 182?

Comparing like vintages at about 100 hours a year, plan on roughly $50 to $90 an hour more for the 206, all costs included. The direct portion — fuel, oil, engine and prop reserve — accounts for about $35 to $55 of that, and the rest comes from higher insurance premiums and a somewhat more expensive annual inspection. A turbocharged T206H widens the gap further.

Is a 206 harder to insure than a 182?

Generally yes. Underwriters treat the 182 as a very well-understood risk with abundant instructor availability. The 206 is heavier, carries a higher hull value, and has a loss history shaped by commercial, float and jump operations. Expect a higher premium for the same hull value and, for lower-time pilots, a requirement for ten or more hours of dual in type before solo coverage applies.

Can a 182 carry four adults and full fuel?

Usually not four full-sized adults with baggage. A typical late-model 182 with around 1,100 pounds of useful load has roughly 580 pounds left after filling the tanks, which is three average adults and very little else. Partial fuel solves it for shorter legs, and the airplane is perfectly happy that way — but if you are constantly trading fuel for seats, that is the signal you need a 206.

Are older Continental-powered 182s and 206s cheaper to own than the restart Lycoming models?

Cheaper to buy and usually cheaper per hour, mostly because a lower hull value means a lower insurance premium and the O-470 is the least expensive of these engines to overhaul. The offset is age: older avionics, older wiring, more corrosion exposure, and a greater chance that structural inspections and deferred items come due on your watch. The restart 182T and 206H cost more to carry but arrive with modern panels and far less accumulated history.