Aircraft Snapshot
1978 Cessna 182Q Skylane, serial 18267123. Continental O-470-U, 230 hp, 1,100 hours since a 2016 factory overhaul against a 2,000-hour TBO. Registered to an individual in Colorado since 2011 — a fourteen-year ownership, which is itself worth noting.
What You're Looking At
The 182 is the aircraft most pilots step up to and many never leave. It carries four adults and useful baggage, lands on grass without drama, and is supported everywhere. What it is not is fast — plan 140 KTAS and be pleased when you beat it.
This particular airframe is a Q model, which puts it after the 1977 gross-weight increase and before the 1981 change to the O-470-U's tighter cooling limits.
Specific-Airframe Concerns
Two items on this aircraft rather than the model.
The 2016 overhaul was a factory reman, not a field overhaul — documented with a Continental yellow tag in the logs. That is the better of the two outcomes and supports the asking price.
Total time is 4,180 hours, which for a 47-year-old airframe is low: about 89 hours a year. Low time is usually good, but on an aircraft this age it raises the opposite question — long idle periods are harder on cylinders and seals than regular flying. Ask for the last ten years of annual entries and look for gaps.
Accident & Incident History
No NTSB accident records for this registration or serial number.
One FAA incident record from 1994: a taxiing collision with a parked aircraft at a fly-in, damage described as minor, repaired under a 337 the same year. Thirty years and several owners ago, and not a concern in itself — but the repair paperwork should be in the logs, and if it is not, ask why.
Airworthiness Directives — This Airframe
⚠ This list shows which ADs your airplane is subject to. It does NOT prove they were complied with — that lives only in the logbooks.
- AD 2011-10-09 — seat rail inspection, recurring at each annual [airframe]
- AD 2012-10-04 — Continental cylinder assemblies [engine · verify serial applicability]
- AD 1996-09-05 — control wheel shaft, one-time [airframe · legacy, seeded]
Known Model Issues
The 182's well-documented items, none of them disqualifying:
Exhaust system cracking at the riser welds. Inexpensive to catch, expensive to ignore — a cracked riser can put carbon monoxide into the cabin heat.
Seat rail wear, the subject of AD 2011-10-09 above, and the single most common reason a 182 fails an annual.
Nose gear shimmy from a worn damper. Cheap, and universally deferred.
Form 337 — Major Repairs & Alterations
2 Form 337s have been supplied for this aircraft.
1994-07-12 · Airframe repair Cessna 182Q s/n 18267123
Repaired left wing tip and aileron following ground collision. Replaced outboard rib and skin per AC 43.13-1B. Reweighed aircraft.
Approved for return to service by an Inspection Authorization on 1994-07-12. Signed: R. Halvorsen, certificate 1884211
2019-03-04 · Airframe alteration Cessna 182Q s/n 18267123
Installed Garmin GTN 650Xi and GTX 345 per STC SA01714WI. Removed KX-155 and KT-76A. Updated weight and balance and equipment list this date.
Approved for return to service by an Inspection Authorization on 2019-03-04. Signed: Prairie Avionics LLC, certificate PR4R291K
⚠ A Form 337 records work that was performed and signed off. It is evidence the work was done and approved for return to service — not a statement about the aircraft's condition today.
Fair Value Range
$88,000 – $124,000, with this aircraft toward the upper half.
The 2016 factory reman is worth roughly $18,000 over a mid-time engine at this point in its life. The 2019 GTN 650Xi panel adds perhaps $12,000 — avionics rarely return their install cost, but a current WAAS navigator is the difference between an IFR aircraft and a project.
Against it: 47 years of age caps the ceiling regardless of condition, and the 1994 repair will come up in every future sale even though it is immaterial.
Prebuy Checklist
- Compression and borescope all six cylinders. 1,100 hours on a reman is mid-life; this is where you find out how it was flown.
- Seat rails, against AD 2011-10-09. Measure, do not eyeball.
- Exhaust risers, crack-checked with the shrouds off.
- The 1994 repair — find the 337 in the logs and inspect the left wing tip area for corrosion at the repair.
- Ten years of annual entries, looking for idle gaps rather than squawks.
Bottom Line
A sound aircraft at a fair price, with nothing in its history that should stop a purchase.
The one thing to establish before you commit is how it was flown during the low- utilisation years — 89 hours a year is fine if it was 89 hours every year, and less fine if it was 300 hours one year and 20 the next. The logs will tell you, and the cylinders will confirm it.
If the compressions come back healthy, this is a buy.