Helio Courier H-391B Buyer's Guide: Costs

Most buyers price a Helio Courier H-391B the way they would price any other 1950s four-seat taildragger, somewhere in Cessna 170 territory, and then find out that the geared Lycoming GO-435 under the cowl can cost more to overhaul than the whole airplane sold for. That one misread has turned a cheerful $80,000 purchase into a $150,000 education. This guide puts the real numbers on paper first: what these airplanes trade for, what insurance companies want, what the annual runs, and how much you should be setting aside every hour the propeller turns.

As a planning range: expect roughly $55,000 to $160,000 to buy a flying H-391B, and roughly $20,000 to $36,000 a year to own one if you fly about 75 hours. The bottom of that band is a tired airframe with a run-out engine and old radios. The top is a well-sorted example with low time since overhaul, clean logs, good slat and gear condition, and modern ADS-B equipment. Projects and damage-history airframes sell below the band, and they are where most of the money gets lost.

What the H-391B Is, and Who It Suits

The Courier line comes out of work by Otto Koppen and Lynn Bollinger, who set out to build an airplane that could fly slowly and safely without falling out of the sky. The H-391B was the early production answer, approved under FAA Type Certificate Data Sheet 1A8, the same TCDS that later covers the H-395, H-250, H-295, H-700 and H-800. It was originally certificated with four seats, spans about 39 feet, and uses a 260-horsepower Lycoming GO-435 geared engine. Maximum weight depends on serial number and modification status: H-391B serial numbers 001 through 031 are 2,800 pounds unless modified under Helio Modification 21, while serial number 032 and later are approved at 3,000 pounds. Beginning with serial number 066, the type certificate also allows an optional fifth seat

What makes it special is the wing. Full-span automatic leading-edge slats pop out on their own as the angle of attack increases, large slotted flaps hang off most of the trailing edge, and roll control at crawling speeds comes from interceptors on the upper wing surface rather than ailerons alone. Helio advertised minimum controllable speeds in the 30 mph range and takeoff and landing distances measured in a few hundred feet. Those are sales-brochure conditions, light and into the wind, but the airplane genuinely does things a 170 or a Super Cub cannot.

Cruise is the trade. Figure 110 to 125 mph true in most owner reports, with a GO-435 that is not frugal. You are buying short-field performance, not speed. If you want the wider field of STOL choices before you commit, our roundup of the 9 best STOL aircraft is a useful sanity check.

Fun Fact: The Courier family was built in real numbers for the military as the L-28 and later U-10, and the type earned a quiet reputation in Southeast Asia for getting into strips nobody else would attempt. If the name confuses you, note that the C-38A "Courier" is an entirely different airplane, a militarized Astra business jet, with no Helio connection at all.

Purchase Price: $55,000 to $160,000

The H-391B sits at the affordable end of the Helio world. The later 295-horsepower Super Couriers command noticeably more because the GO-480 engine is better supported and the airplane hauls more. For the 391B, asking prices observed through 2025 generally fall between about $55,000 and $160,000 for a flying, airworthy example.

What pushes a specific airplane toward the top: engine time well under 400 hours since a documented overhaul by a shop that actually knows geared Lycomings, complete logbooks back to delivery, no corrosion in the wing and tail structure, serviceable slat tracks and rollers, fresh glass and paint, and a panel with certified ADS-B Out. What drags one to the bottom: a run-out or calendar-expired engine, missing logs, an outdoor-stored life in a coastal climate, hangar rash on the slats, and an engine that has been sitting more than flying.

Be honest with yourself about the engine when you run the math. An H-391B at $70,000 with 1,100 hours on a 1,200-hour engine is not a $70,000 airplane. It is a $70,000 airplane plus a five-figure bill you have already agreed to pay, you just have not been handed the invoice yet. Our walkthrough on how to negotiate a used aircraft price covers how to turn that kind of finding into a credit rather than an argument.

Flying411 keeps vintage STOL and bush aircraft listings in one place, so you can compare engine time, log completeness and asking price across several Couriers instead of judging one in isolation.

The GO-435 Engine Reserve Is the Biggest Number

The GO in GO-435 means geared. The crankshaft spins faster than the propeller and a reduction gearbox sits between them. That is how Lycoming got 260 horsepower out of a 435-cubic-inch engine in the early 1950s, and it is also why this engine asks more of you than a plain O-540 does.Lycoming Service Instruction 1009BF, revised July 20, 2026, continues to list the O-435 and GO-435 series at a 1,200-hour operating-hour TBO for both factory-new/rebuilt and overhauled engines, low by modern standards, and the engine is sensitive to abrupt throttle handling. Think of it like driving a manual transmission: smooth inputs and it lasts, sloppy inputs and the gear train tells you about it.

Overhaul pricing is where orphan status bites. There is no production line feeding new parts, so a shop may be hunting serviceable gears, a crankshaft or a case. Budget $45,000 to $75,000 for a quality overhaul including accessories, removal and reinstallation, with the top of the range realistic if the gearbox or crankshaft needs replacing. Spread over a 1,200-hour TBO, that is about $38 to $62 per flight hour you should be setting aside, not hoping to find later.

Add a propeller reserve. A constant-speed overhaul in the $4,000 to $8,000 range on a 2,000-hour or six-year cycle works out to roughly $3 to $6 an hour, and on a bushplane that sees gravel, blade dressing between overhauls is normal.

Keep in Mind: Calendar matters as much as hours on an engine this age. Lycoming recommends overhaul on a twelve-year calendar limit for engines in private use, and a geared six that has sat for five years with 300 hours on it is a bigger risk than one flown 80 hours a year. Corrosion in cam lobes and lifters does not care what the tach says. Our guide on maintaining vintage aircraft engines goes deeper on inactivity damage.

Insurance: Your Tailwheel Time Sets the Price

Underwriters look at three things on this airplane: hull value, your tailwheel experience, and whether you have any time in type. A 1950s taildragger with a geared engine and a reputation for short-field work is not a hard sell to the market, but it is a hard sell with 20 hours of tailwheel time.

For a pilot with a few hundred hours of tailwheel time, an instrument rating and some make-and-model dual, full coverage on a $120,000 hull commonly lands somewhere around $2,500 to $5,000 a year. A low-time or newly transitioned tailwheel pilot should expect the high end of that or a decline, and may be required to complete a specified number of dual hours with a named instructor before solo coverage starts. Liability-only, if you own the airplane outright and can accept the hull risk, typically runs a few hundred to around $1,500.

Heads Up: Get an insurance quote before you sign a purchase agreement, not after. On orphan types the quote sometimes comes back with training requirements that are hard to satisfy, because there are only so many instructors with meaningful Helio time. Finding that out during escrow is cheap. Finding out after closing is not.

Hangar or Tie-Down

A 39-foot span and tall tail means a Courier does not tuck into every T-hangar, and some older rows will not take it without moving the tug around. Hangar rent in the United States as of 2025 ranges broadly from about $150 to $700 a month depending on the market, with small rural fields at the low end and metro airports well above it. Outdoor tie-down typically runs $50 to $175 a month.

On a seventy-year-old airframe, the hangar is not a luxury line item. Weather exposure drives corrosion in wing structure and control surfaces, cooks seals and glass, and shortens the life of the slat mechanism. The hangar is cheaper than the sheet metal work it prevents, the same way a garage is cheaper than repainting a truck every five years.

Flying411 keeps aircraft specifications and listing details side by side, so you can check dimensions against your hangar before you fall in love with an airplane you cannot store.

Fuel and Oil

Plan on 13 to 16 gallons per hour in cruise, and more if you spend your flying doing what this airplane is built for, which is climbing out of short strips at high power. With 100LL running roughly $6 to $8 a gallon across most of the lower 48 as of 2025, and considerably more at remote fields and in Alaska, fuel works out to about $80 to $130 an hour.

Oil is a real line item too. Geared Lycomings of this vintage hold a large sump and are not shy about using oil. Changes every 25 to 50 hours with a filter or screen service, at $90 to $200 a time, are normal.

Good to Know: Engines of this era were certificated on 80/87 grade fuel, and owners widely report lead fouling of plugs on 100LL. Many run an approved anti-fouling additive and clean plugs more often. If you are considering an unleaded fuel under one of the current supplemental type certificates, confirm your exact engine and airframe serial numbers are on the applicable approved model list before you buy the first load.

Annual Inspection, Parts and the Orphan Problem

A routine annual on a well-kept H-391B at a shop that has seen one before typically runs $3,500 to $7,500. A first annual after purchase, or one at a shop meeting the type for the first time, commonly lands between $8,000 and $15,000, because the inspector is discovering the airplane on your dime.

Add a realistic unscheduled maintenance allowance of $15 to $35 per flight hour. Items that show up on this type include slat tracks and rollers, interceptor and flap rigging, the long-stroke main gear and its shock units, tailwheel components, exhaust system cracking, and magneto and accessory overhauls on the geared engine.

Parts are the honest risk. Helio type certificate ownership and parts support have changed hands several times over the decades, and today a meaningful share of airframe-specific parts comes from specialist suppliers, owner networks and serviceable salvage rather than a factory shelf. Keeping an H-391B flying is a lot like keeping a 1955 pickup on the road: the airplane itself is simple, but a single bracket can turn into a two-month phone project. This is where the type club earns its keep, and where understanding overhauled versus serviceable parts saves real money.

Pro Tip: Pay for a pre-buy inspection by someone who has actually worked on Couriers, even if that means flying a mechanic in. Have them pull inspection panels in the wing and tail, cycle the slats by hand, check the gear geometry and shock units, and read every logbook page for engine gearbox history and prop strike entries. Two thousand dollars spent on the right set of eyes is the best-returning money in this whole purchase.

Key Takeaways

Buy in at $55,000 to $160,000, then expect fixed costs of roughly $9,000 to $19,000 a year once insurance, hangar and the annual are counted, plus about $140 to $225 per flight hour for fuel, oil, unscheduled maintenance and engine and propeller reserves. At 75 hours a year that is about $20,000 to $36,000 all in, or roughly $270 to $480 per hour. The single number that decides which end you land on is the GO-435: an engine with 200 hours since a good overhaul changes the ownership picture more than paint, panel and interior combined. Price the airplane as purchase plus engine status, not purchase alone.

Ways to Spend Less

Buy the engine, not the paint. A mid-time, documented GO-435 on a scruffy airframe is almost always the better buy than a gorgeous airplane with a run-out engine. What you give up is curb appeal and possibly a few years of cosmetic projects you will fund yourself.

Join the type club before you shop. Owner associations for the Helio line are where the parts leads, the knowledgeable mechanics and the honest reputation of specific airframes live. Membership costs almost nothing against a single avoided mistake. The trade is time: you have to participate to get value out of it.

Share the fixed costs. A two-owner partnership cuts hangar, insurance and the annual roughly in half each, which is where most of the fixed burden sits. The trade is scheduling and the need for a written agreement about maintenance standards, because partners disagree about airplanes the way roommates disagree about dishes.

Do your own preventive maintenance. Part 43 Appendix A allows an owner-pilot to perform listed preventive maintenance tasks, including oil changes, tire and tube work, spark plug cleaning and gapping, and some lubrication, with a proper logbook entry. On an airplane that fouls plugs more than a modern engine, that alone is worth real money. The trade is that you must do it right and log it right. Our guide on maintaining an aircraft to extend its life covers the habits that matter most.

Hangar at a smaller field. Moving twenty minutes further out often halves the rent. The trade is drive time, and sometimes less maintenance support on the field.

Fly it regularly. Seventy-five hours a year spreads the fixed cost over more flying and keeps the engine's internals oiled. The airplane that costs owners the most per hour is almost always the one that flies 20 hours a year.

Flying411 keeps asking prices, equipment lists and engine times together in one place, so you can see what a mid-time GO-435 is actually worth in the market before you negotiate.

Is the H-391B the Right Airplane for You?

The Helio Courier H-391B rewards a specific owner: someone who wants genuine short-field capability from a certificated four-seater, who has or will build serious tailwheel time, and who has the patience and the cash reserve that an orphan type demands. If that is you, the airplane does things its contemporaries simply cannot, and the money works out at roughly $270 to $480 an hour at 75 hours a year, with the engine reserve being the number you must not skip.

If you want cheap, simple flying with parts on a shelf, this is not the airplane, and the later 295-horsepower Super Couriers are the better choice if your budget stretches. Read the listing carefully, check the engine history first, and get a Helio-literate mechanic involved before money moves. Our guide on how to read an aircraft listing will help you spot what a seller leaves out.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does a Helio Courier H-391B cost to buy?

Airworthy examples have generally been asking between about $55,000 and $160,000 as of 2025. Engine time since overhaul, log completeness, corrosion condition and avionics drive where a given airplane lands in that band. Projects and damage-history airframes trade below it, and they usually cost more to finish than they save on purchase.

What is the TBO on the Lycoming GO-435?

Lycoming publishes a 1,200-hour TBO for the GO-435 series, along with a calendar recommendation of twelve years for privately operated engines. Because the engine is out of production and the gearbox adds complexity, overhaul quotes commonly run $45,000 to $75,000 including accessories and installation.

Is the H-391B hard to fly?

It is not twitchy in the air, but it is a tailwheel airplane with a lot of wing and very low approach speeds, which means it floats and it reacts to crosswinds. Most insurers want meaningful tailwheel experience plus dual in type. The geared engine also wants smooth, deliberate power changes, which is a habit rather than a difficulty.

How does the H-391B compare with the H-295 Super Courier?

The H-295 carries the 295-horsepower GO-480, lifts more, and enjoys noticeably better parts and overhaul support, which is why it sells for more. The H-391B is the cheaper way into the Courier's slat-and-interceptor wing, provided you fund the engine reserve properly from day one.

Are parts still available for the Helio Courier?

Yes, but not the way they are for a Cessna. Airframe-specific parts come from specialist suppliers, owner networks and serviceable salvage, and lead times can be long. Budget for delays as well as dollars, and get plugged into the Helio owner community before you need a part, not after.