Cessna 188 vs Piper PA-36 Pawnee Brave

Side-by-side specs, range, and real operating costs for up to 5 aircraft.

Aircraft

Search for an aircraft above to begin your comparison.

Mission Performance

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Values normalised across compared aircraft. Fuel Economy is inverted (lower burn = higher score). See table below for raw figures.

Mission Performance Details

Metric Cessna 188 Cessna Piper PA-36 Pawnee Brave Piper Aircraft, Inc
Stall Speed 50 kts 62 kts
Approach Speed 66 kts 80 kts
Cruise Speed 98 kts 118 kts
Range 256 nm 392 nm
Service Ceiling 11,100 ft 15,000 ft
Rate of Climb 690 fpm 920 fpm
Fuel Burn 16.5 gph 17.0 gph

Flight Profile

Service ceiling, range, and climb rate.

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Arc represents the climb-cruise-descent profile based on published service ceiling and range. Climb rate annotated on ascent. FL180 (18,000 ft) shown for reference.

Fuel Burn

Based on published cruise fuel flow

Trip distance
50 nm1,0002,000 nm
Metric Cessna 188 Cessna Piper PA-36 Pawnee Brave Piper Aircraft, Inc
Burn Rate
Trip Fuel
Trip Cost
Cost / hr

Trip time estimated from published cruise speed and distance. Fuel burn is a published cruise figure; actual consumption varies with altitude, loading, and conditions.

Runway Performance

Density altitude adjusted estimates

Outside Air Temp
0°F57°F115°F
Field Elevation
SL4,0008,000 ft
Density Altitude

Takeoff over 50 ft obstacle

Landing ground roll

Base distance DA penalty
Scale: 6,000 ft

FAA 10%/1,000 ft DA rule of thumb (FAA-H-8083-25B). Turboprops and jets are less sensitive in practice. Always verify against the POH.

Estimated Operating Costs

Cost per flight hour

Direct operating cost, split into where the money goes. Re-flows with your fuel and electricity prices above.

Scale:
Cessna 188Avgas
$131/hr
Cessna 188: $131 per flight hour — fuel $107, maintenance and reserve $24.
Piper PA-36 Pawnee BraveAvgas
$145/hr
Piper PA-36 Pawnee Brave: $145 per flight hour — fuel $110, maintenance and reserve $35.

Annual costs

Annual fixed costs (insurance, hangar, and inspection) paid whether you fly or not.

Cessna 188
$8,035/yr
Cessna 188: $8,035 per year — insurance $3,200, hangar $3,600, annual inspection $1,235.
Piper PA-36 Pawnee Brave
$7,300/yr
Piper PA-36 Pawnee Brave: $7,300 per year — insurance $1,900, hangar $2,400, annual inspection $3,000.

Estimates only. Costs vary by location, pilot profile, and market conditions. See individual aircraft pages for source notes.

Capability & limits

Each bar stacks your selected occupants against full fuel and the aircraft's useful-load limit (the black line). The open gap between them is spare payload. Add an occupant and the gap closes; once it's gone, fuel has to give.

Occupants at 190 + 30 lb each
1
Cessna 188
1 seats 56 gal fuel — lb useful 3,300 lb MTOW
Piper PA-36 Pawnee Brave
1 / 1 seats 85 / 85 gal fuel 1,730 lb wet payload 2,240 lb useful 4,800 lb MTOW

Occupants at 190 + 30 lb each (your saved weights); change the count above. Fuel at 6.7 lb/gal jet-A, 6.0 lb/gal avgas.

Dimensions & configuration

Planforms top-down, drawn to one shared scale; configuration chips below each.

Cessna 188
41.7 × 26.3 ft 7.7 ft tall
1× Piston Conventional Unpressurized
Piper PA-36 Pawnee Brave
38.8 × 27.5 ft 7.5 ft tall
1× Piston Conventional Unpressurized

Payload-Range Map

Full fuel ← → Max payload

Origin: · click map to move

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