The complete guide · 18 min read

How to sell an airplane: the complete guide for owners.

Selling an airplane is not like selling a car. There is a federal registry instead of a state title, a set of logbooks that carry a big share of the value, an inspection by the buyer's mechanic that can rewrite the deal, and money that should only ever move through escrow. None of it is hard once you know the order things happen in. This guide walks through every step of selling a private airplane — a 40-year-old trainer or a late-model single, flying or not — and is honest about the three ways to do it: selling it yourself, listing with a broker, or taking a cash offer.

We're pilots who buy airplanes for a living (19+ so far, most of them from owners selling for the first time), so we've seen where sales go smoothly and where they stall. Here's the whole map.

The short version: how to sell an airplane in 9 steps

1. Find out what it's worth as it sits today — from sold prices, not asking prices.
2. Pick your route: sell it yourself, list with a broker, or take a cash offer.
3. Gather the paperwork: logbooks, registration, airworthiness certificate, weight and balance, 337s and any lien releases.
4. Decide what (if anything) to fix before you sell — usually less than you think.
5. Price it and advertise it where buyers of your model actually look.
6. Screen buyers, then handle test flights and the pre-buy inspection.
7. Sign a written purchase agreement with the price, deposit, contingencies and delivery terms.
8. Close through an aircraft title and escrow company: title search, lien payoffs, FAA bill of sale, wire.
9. After closing: report the sale to the FAA Registry, then cancel insurance and the hangar.

Step 1: Find out what your airplane is really worth

Everything else depends on this number, so get it first — before you spend a dollar on an annual, paint or avionics. Two traps catch most first-time sellers:

• Asking prices are not selling prices. The listings you see on Trade-A-Plane or Controller are what owners hope to get, and the ones that have been up for months are the ones priced wrong. Airplanes usually close below their last ask.
• Two airplanes of the same model can be tens of thousands of dollars apart. The year matters less than what has happened to that particular airframe.

What actually moves the price of a piston airplane, roughly in order:

• Engine time against TBO. An engine near or past its recommended overhaul time takes the cost of an overhaul (or an exchange engine) off the value — a large fraction of a trainer's price.
• Annual status. In annual and flying is worth more than "out of annual," and the longer it has sat, the more a buyer assumes is hiding — corrosion, dried-out seals, a tired fuel system.
• Damage history. A prop strike, gear-up or wing repair stays in the logbooks and the FAA file for good. A well-documented repair hurts much less than an undocumented one.
• Logbook completeness. Missing logs are a value conversation, not a dead end — here's how that plays out.
• Avionics. ADS-B Out is close to a requirement for most buyers; a modern GPS and autopilot add value, an orphaned 1990s panel adds little.
• Paint, interior and hangar history. These swing retail buyers more than they swing the airplane's mechanical value.

For a number, you can use the published value guides lenders use (Aircraft Bluebook and VREF), pay a certified aircraft appraiser, or ask a buyer who works from real sold data. We'll give you a number for free either way — here's how we work out what an airplane is worth.

Step 2: Choose how you'll sell — your three real options

There are really only three ways to sell a private airplane, plus a fourth for airplanes that are past saving. Picking one honestly, up front, saves months.

Selling an airplane yourself

You write the ad, take the calls, show the airplane, arrange test flights and the pre-buy, and run the closing. If the airplane is flying, well kept and a popular model, and you have time, a private sale can bring the most money. The cost is your time and the hangar, insurance and annual bills that keep running while you wait.

Selling through an aircraft broker

A good broker markets the airplane to buyers you don't have access to, screens the tire-kickers, and manages the pre-buy and closing. In exchange you pay a commission, and you still carry the airplane until it sells. For a high-value, in-demand airplane with no time pressure, it can pay for itself. We ran the real numbers on a $200,000 piston, broker vs. cash — holding costs and pre-buy fall-throughs surprise most people.

Selling to a cash buyer

A cash buyer — which is what we are at Cash4Planes — makes one offer on the airplane as it sits, pays with its own funds (no financing contingency), and closes through escrow in days. The number is below retail, because the buyer takes on the open squawks, the ferry and the time to resell. What you get in return is certainty: no showings, no pre-buy that can collapse, no more hangar bills. It's the natural route for an airplane that's out of annual, needs an engine, has been sitting, or belongs to an estate — and for anyone who simply wants it done. Who actually buys old airplanes, and how to vet them.

The fourth option: salvage or parting out

If an airplane is badly damaged or would cost more to return to service than it's worth whole, it may be worth more as parts. That's a narrower case than most owners think — salvage vs. selling it whole explains where the line is.

Step 3: Gather your paperwork

Whichever route you choose, the buyer and the title company will ask for the same things. Track them down now so nothing stalls at closing:

• Logbooks — airframe, engine and propeller, back to new if you have them. The last annual entry and the AD compliance record are the pages every buyer reads first.
• Certificate of Aircraft Registration — check the expiration date. Registrations now run seven years, and an expired one should be sorted out before the sale.
• Standard Airworthiness Certificate — it stays with the airplane and transfers with it.
• Weight and balance and the equipment list, current to the panel that's actually installed.
• FAA Form 337s for major repairs and alterations, and the paperwork for any STCs.
• The POH or flight manual and any supplements.
• Proof you can sell it: if there's a loan, the lender's payoff letter; if a loan was paid off years ago, a recorded lien release (an old lien left open in the FAA file is the most common closing delay we see). If the airplane is in an LLC, trust or estate, the documents that show who can sign — for an estate, the letters testamentary or letters of administration.

Not sure what the FAA has on file? The FAA Registry's free online N-number lookup shows the registered owner and status; a title company can pull the full record, including liens.

Step 4: Decide what to fix before you sell — usually less than you think

The instinct is to "get it ready": fresh annual, new paint, a panel upgrade. Most of that money doesn't come back.

• Worth doing: a thorough cleaning inside and out, organizing the logbooks, a fresh battery, and fixing small, cheap squawks a buyer would otherwise use as leverage.
• Sometimes worth doing: an annual, if the airplane is flying and you're selling it yourself — an airplane in annual is far easier to sell to a retail buyer. Get a quote and a valuation first so you know it pays for itself.
• Rarely worth doing: paint, interior and avionics upgrades. Buyers have their own taste, and you'll seldom recover the cost.
• Almost never worth doing: an engine overhaul just to sell. Price the run-out engine in instead.

If the airplane isn't airworthy and has to move, an FAA special flight permit (a "ferry permit") can let a pilot fly it to a shop or a buyer, or it can go by truck. Out of annual? Your three options covers this in detail.

Step 5: Price it and advertise it (if you're selling it yourself)

Price from the sold-price range you found in step 1, not the highest ask you've seen. An airplane priced at the market draws calls in the first few weeks; one priced above it sits, and an airplane that's been sitting starts to look like it has a problem. In our own tracking of roughly 3,600 piston singles and light twins for sale in October 2026, the typical airplane that sold had been advertised about two months, while the typical one still for sale had been listed for about three.

Where to list: Trade-A-Plane, Controller and Barnstormers are where piston buyers search; owners' groups and type clubs reach serious buyers of your model; a for-sale sign in the window at a busy field still works.

What a good ad includes: year, make and model; total time, engine time since overhaul and prop time; the annual date; the avionics list; useful load; any damage history, stated plainly; and 20 or more clear photos — panel, both sides, interior, engine compartment and logbooks. Buyers will look up the N-number and the FAA file anyway, so leaving out damage history only moves that conversation to the worst possible moment.

Step 6: Screen buyers, then handle test flights and the pre-buy

Screen first. Ask early how they're paying. A buyer who needs financing still has a lender's approval (and often the lender's appraisal) ahead. Be wary of anyone who wants to pay you directly without escrow, or who sends a check for more than the price and asks for the difference back — that's a scam.

Test flights. Decide who is pilot in command, confirm your insurance covers that pilot, and stay with the airplane. Many owners fly the test flight themselves or bring a CFI they trust.

The pre-buy inspection. A serious buyer will have a mechanic of their choosing inspect the airplane, at their cost. This is where most private and brokered sales either close or fall apart. Squawks the inspection turns up usually become a renegotiation: you fix them, reduce the price, or walk away. A buyer's deposit, held in escrow, is reasonable once you've agreed on a price subject to the inspection.

Step 7: Put the deal in a written purchase agreement

A handshake isn't enough for an airplane. A short purchase agreement should cover the price; the deposit and where it's held; the inspection contingency and what happens if it finds something; where and when the airplane is delivered; what's included (spare parts, covers, tow bar); that the airplane is sold as-is; and the closing date. Title companies and owner associations have templates, and for anything unusual an aviation attorney is money well spent.

Step 8: Close through an aircraft title and escrow company

Every legitimate airplane sale closes through a neutral aviation title and escrow company. It protects both sides: the seller doesn't sign over the airplane before the money is there, and the buyer doesn't send money before the title is clean. The sequence:

1. Escrow is opened and the title company searches the FAA record for the registered owner and any liens.
2. Any loan is paid off from the proceeds, and the lender's release is recorded.
3. The seller signs the FAA Aircraft Bill of Sale (AC Form 8050-2); the buyer signs an Aircraft Registration Application (AC Form 8050-1).
4. The buyer wires the funds to the escrow account.
5. The title company files the paperwork with the FAA Registry and releases the money to the seller.

Escrow fees are small next to a commission — the aircraft escrow process, step by step, has the details. One rule that saves people every year: before anyone wires money, confirm the wiring instructions by phone with the title company, at a number you looked up yourself. Wire-instruction fraud is real.

Step 9: After the sale

• Report the sale to the FAA Aircraft Registry. Your registration ends when ownership transfers, and the seller is asked to notify the Registry within 21 days. The Registry's website explains the current way to do it.
• Cancel the insurance and the hangar — after the sale has closed and the airplane has been delivered, not before.
• Clear your personal data from the avionics: saved flight plans, user waypoints, and phone or tablet pairings.
• Keep copies of the bill of sale, the closing statement and the escrow paperwork.
• Taxes: sales or use tax is generally the buyer's concern, but if the airplane was used in a business and depreciated, a sale can create a tax bill for you. Talk to your CPA before you close, not after.

Selling an airplane that isn't flying

A large share of the airplanes for sale aren't flying. They're out of annual, they need an engine, they've been damaged, or they've sat in a hangar since the owner stopped flying. These are the hardest airplanes to sell to a retail buyer — and they're most of what we buy. Guides for each situation:

• Out of annual — fix it, sell it as-is, or ferry it.
• Engine run out or past TBO — overhaul first or sell as-is?
• Damaged airplanes — prop strikes, gear-ups and hail.
• Sitting for years — what we find inside an airplane that's sat, and what it means for value.
• Missing or incomplete logbooks.
• An inherited airplane, a late spouse's airplane, a divorce or a partnership that's ending.
• You lost your medical or simply stopped flying.

For all of these, a cash buyer who prices the open items in up front is often the fastest and least expensive way out — see how we pay cash for airplanes in any condition.

What it costs to sell an airplane

Owners tend to compare offers on the headline price alone. The real comparison is what's left in your account after every cost — including the months the airplane sits.

Selling a specific airplane? Guides by model

Each model has its own buyer pool, its own common squawks and its own AD history. If yours is one of these, the model guide goes deeper:

Questions owners ask about selling an airplane

Want a real number before you decide?

You don't have to pick a route today. Tell us about your airplane or call (386) 209-6722, and we'll give you a straight, no-obligation cash number — useful whether you sell to us, list it yourself, or keep flying it another year.