Range Map
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Payload vs. Range
Fuel on board
Cargo
nm
Range
Trip Preview
Name a destination in the map header above and this becomes your trip: time en route, what you burn, what it costs, and whether you get there without stopping — at the load you have set.
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We do not have a cruise speed on file for this aircraft, so there is no honest time or cost to give you for this leg.
En route
Fuel burned
Direct cost
Fuel cost
Tanks run dry about past before at this burn.
Mission Profile
- High-Performance
- Complex
- Multi-Engine
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Estimated Ownership Costs
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About the Douglas DC-3
Type certificated 1937
Overview
The Douglas DC-3 is the twin-radial airliner that made passenger flight pay for itself: an all-metal taildragger seating roughly 21 to 28, carried on two 1,200 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp radials, type-certificated in 1937 and built in the thousands as the civil DC-3 and the military C-47 Skytrain. Nearly a century after its first flight, it is still earning a living, hauling freight into gravel strips, lifting skydivers, and flying heritage tours, because little else its size does that work as cheaply off unimproved runways.
Owning one is less a purchase than a vocation. It cruises near 180 knots on about 100 gallons an hour of increasingly scarce 100LL, demands two engines’ worth of radial expertise that grows rarer every year, and rewards only operators who fly it enough to justify the upkeep. A buyer who wants payload per dollar on paved runways should look to a turboprop twin; the DC-3 is for the mission, and the operator, that a modern airplane still cannot replace.
Key Features for GA Buyers
- Rough-field workhorse. The rugged conventional gear, low wing loading, and 1,200 hp per side let a DC-3 operate from short, unpaved strips that stop most transport-category aircraft, which is why bush and cargo operators keep them flying.
- All-metal longevity. The stressed-skin aluminum airframe has proven almost indefinitely repairable; with corrosion control and spar attention, airframes built in the 1940s remain airworthy today.
- A vast parts and knowledge base. More than 10,000 C-47 and DC-3 airframes were built, leaving a deeper pool of parts, tooling, and type-club expertise than most other 1930s airliners have left behind.
- Proven load-hauler. With a useful load over four tons and about 822 gallons of fuel capacity, it trades payload against range across bush freight, jump, and utility roles.
Trade-offs
- Radial-engine economics. Two Twin Wasps burn roughly 100 gallons an hour plus oil, run on scarce avgas, and reserve tens of thousands of dollars per engine toward a 1,400-hour overhaul, so direct operating cost runs near $880 an hour before fixed costs.
- Vanishing expertise. Mechanics and shops fluent in large radials grow rarer every year, and parts, though available, come through type clubs and salvage rather than a factory line.
- A two-crew, endorsement-heavy airplane. It requires high-performance, complex, and multi-engine endorsements and realistically a two-pilot crew, so it is not a step-up single-pilot type.
- Low utilization hurts. Insurance runs near 12 percent of hull value and calendar costs accrue whether or not it flies, so airframes used only 50 to 100 hours a year cost dearly per hour.
See Also
- Beechcraft 18 – the smaller vintage twin-radial taildragger, a lighter utility and feeder peer Compare
- Beechcraft 18 Turbo – the turbine-converted Twin Beech, a modernized radial-twin alternative Compare
- Douglas Super DC-3 – the faster, heavier 1949 modernization on 1,475 hp Cyclones Compare
Technical Specifications
Dimensions & Weights
- Height
- 17 ft
- Length
- Source: third-party reference 64 ft
- Parking area (ft²2)
- 7,332 ft²
- Max Takeoff Weight
- Source: FAA Type Certificate Data Sheet 25,200 lbs
- Max Landing Weight
- 24,400 lbs
- Useful Load
- Estimated/derived; not a published figure 8,335 lbs
- Fuel Capacity
- Source: FAA Type Certificate Data Sheet 822 gal
Performance
- Cruise Speed
- Source: manufacturer figure 180 KTAS
- Never-Exceed (VNE)
- Source: FAA Type Certificate Data Sheet 224 KIAS
- Max Structural Cruise (VNO)
- Source: FAA Type Certificate Data Sheet 184 KIAS
- Approach Speed
- 80 KIAS
- Stall, Clean (VS1)
- Source: third-party reference 68 KIAS
- Range
- Source: third-party reference 1370 NM
- Service Ceiling
- Source: third-party reference 23,200 ft
- Rate of Climb
- 1140 fpm
Engines
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Sources
Where the figures on this page come from. Douglas DC-3 specifications are traced to published references; estimated values are flagged inline next to the figure.
Similar to the Douglas DC-3
Similar PistonsDouglas Super DC-3
Compare the Douglas DC-3 to other aircraft