PlaneFox tracks 1 Utva Aero 3 aircraft for sale and re-reads every one of them from the broker and dealer sites it watches, so the figures below move when the market moves. Every number on this page is measured from those live listings, not taken from a published price guide.
A Utva Aero 3 flies about 367 nm, roughly 680 km, which is about 3 h 47 min in still air at typical cruise.
A Utva Aero 3 costs about EUR 1,830 a month to run, or about EUR 192 for every flight hour when it is flown 150 hours a year.
The Utva Aero 3 is a Yugoslav two-seat primary trainer built by UTVA at Pančevo for military and aero club use. The type first flew in 1956 and entered production in the late 1950s, serving mainly with the Yugoslav Air Force as a basic training aircraft. It is a low-wing, fixed-gear piston aircraft with an enclosed cockpit, conventional controls and straightforward systems. Its importance comes from its role in postwar Yugoslav pilot training, bridging earlier tailwheel trainers and later, more modern UTVA designs. On today’s market it is a specialist classic aircraft rather than a mainstream touring type.
Typical published figures for the Utva Aero 3 include a cruise speed of about 97 knots, a maximum speed of about 110 knots, a range of about 370 nautical miles and a service ceiling of about 13,000 feet. The aircraft is powered by a Lycoming O-435 series air-cooled six-cylinder piston engine rated at about 190 hp. Maximum takeoff weight is commonly listed around 2,535 lb, with useful load dependent on equipment, fuel and restoration standard. The Aero 3’s performance should be viewed in the context of 1950s primary training: modest cruise speed, honest handling and simple field operation rather than cross-country efficiency.
The cabin seats two occupants side by side under an enclosed canopy, an arrangement suited to instruction and local flying. Cockpit space is practical but narrow by modern light-aircraft standards, with basic engine controls, conventional flight instruments and limited baggage provision. Original aircraft were delivered with period analog instrumentation and military or aero club radio equipment. Used examples today are more likely to have a mixed VFR panel, commonly including a modern communications radio, transponder and portable or panel-mounted GPS. Integrated glass cockpits such as Garmin G1000 or Garmin Perspective are not typical for the Utva Aero 3.
Prospective buyers should treat the Utva Aero 3 as a historic aircraft requiring careful records review and type-specific maintenance knowledge. Key items include airframe condition, corrosion control, control cable condition, landing gear alignment, canopy condition, engine history and propeller life. Documentation is especially important because many aircraft have military or aero club backgrounds and may have undergone long periods of storage. Upgrades are usually practical rather than cosmetic: radios, transponders, engine instrumentation and safety equipment. In the used market, the Aero 3 sits as a rare collector and vintage flying aircraft, generally valued for originality, condition and airworthiness rather than speed, payload or avionics sophistication.