There’s a reason why owners love their Grumman AA-5 series singles. These planes have no shortage of fun factor thanks to sliding canopies, sports car-like handling and excellent field support. They work for training and traveling, are decent IFR machines and ones that have been refurbished and well-maintained have respectable resale value. With fixed gear, insurance premiums should be easy to handle.
But we’ve seen plenty of buyer’s remorse with new owners buying the wrong ones. If only they had taken the plane to a Grumman expert who knows what to look for. Like plenty of other models, this is an aging fleet and the right upkeep is critical for a successful ownership experience. Here’s a summary to start your shopping on the right note.
Which AA-5?
Choose your performance. The AA-5B Tiger, with its 180-HP Lycoming O-360-A4K, has a book cruise speed of 139 knots and ones we’ve flown (without speed mods) didn’t quite make that number, but owners tell us they generally flight plan at 130 knots. With its 150-HP Lycoming O-320-E2G, plan on going around 12 knots slower in an AA-5A Cheetah. With a climb prop, a Tiger can easily move out at 1000 fpm. If long-distance traveling is your plan with these airplanes, we’d suggest getting into a Tiger from the start because eventually, you’ll probably want to step up from the smaller-engine Cheetah. On the other hand, plenty of Cheetah owners have tweaked more performance from their machines with airframe and prop mods.
And on a trip, expect decent range from a Tiger. With its 51-gallon fuel capacity, you’ll generally see around four hours of endurance with reserve. More than one Tiger owner told us they can fill the tanks and expect to run for 500 miles on a typical eastbound trip. The Cheetah only carries 38 gallons of fuel, which limits endurance to a touch over three hours, in general, but there is 51-gallon tank option on the Cheetah for bladder-busting range.
As for loading, the Tiger has a 2400-pound gross weight and a typical 1500-pound empty weight, leaving about 900 pounds for real-world ops. Fill the tanks, load three average-sized adults in the cabin and tell them to pack lightly. The Cheetah (2200-pound gross weight) has a useful load of around 750 pounds. These things aren’t flying SUVs, but we’ve loaded our stuff in a Tiger for weekend getaways for two, including two snowboards and duffle bags, and found that folding down the rear seats worked reasonably well. We could probably get a full-sized road bicycle back there by removing one wheel.
Crisp Handling, Good Ergos
On the ground, the AA-5 series planes are steered via a swiveling nosewheel. It doesn’t caster all the way around; just lead the turn with the brakes and maintain directional control. And like a Cirrus or pretty much anything else with a castering nosewheel you get the hang of it pretty quickly. But plenty have pulled muscles trying to wrestle their Grummans back into the hangar or the tiedown. You can also damage the nosewheel if you aren’t careful. Use the correct tow bar or tug.
Pilots new to the type learn to briefly ride the brakes until the rudder comes alive on the takeoff roll and then quickly let off. But position it just right of the centerline and after a while you’ll realize you might not touch the brakes at all because once engine torque starts pulling left, the fuselage straightens and it rolls along. In the air, it quickly becomes obvious why these airplanes have a reputation for simply being fun to fly. Pitch and roll feel are crisp and the airplanes goes where you put it. There are various autopilots that have an STC for retrofit, including the Garmin G500. The AA-5s have simple systems, too, including a foolproof fuel selector with Left, Right and Off positions—but no Both. That means being on the ball and switching tanks when appropriate. But the selector is positioned in a spot where you shouldn’t forget it, if you don’t have something else to remind you.
These airplanes have electric wing flaps commanded with a toggle switch up on the center pedestal/console. Keep an eye on the flap indicator to see how much flaps are extended. Experienced Cheetah and Tiger pilots tend to simply count to five for half flaps. But, a gotcha is holding the switch down to extend the flaps and then letting it go—which snaps back over center and retracts the flaps again. That’s a setup for a prang.
When searching the used market you’ll find a wide variety of avionics in these airplanes. Some owners have spent a small fortune on all-glass upgrades and these are generally the airplanes that are premium-priced. Others have what we call federated panels, with a mix of older and newer equipment from multiple manufacturers. Some may only be VFR-capable, which for some may be just fine. But these airplanes, especially Tigers, are worthy of distance traveling in IFR conditions, so avionics upgrades are certainly worth it.
Which leads to a few words about the cabin dwelling—it isn’t exactly posh. In fact, Cheetahs and Tigers that haven’t been upgraded to modern interiors are pretty stark, and the OEM seating is, well, utilitarian. But like avionics upgrades, plenty of owners spend big on interior mods. But upgrades or not, beware of that sliding canopy and always keep a hammer in the aircraft to smash your way out if you crash because it can bend or warp to the point of not sliding open. And new owners should be thoroughly familiar with its normal and abnormal operation. Guess how many pilots have been locked inside … or at least thought they were locked inside? We lost count over the years.
Landing a Tiger or Cheetah is hardly a big deal when you nail the speed, and owners will attest that these planes want to float and adding extra speed is a setup for the classic runway overrun. But, get it right and you’re rewarded with a greaser, helped by the nose strut shock absorber, which was added in the 1978 model year. And, land with the nosewheel off the runway or you may induce porpoising, leading to a prop strike.
On the Shop Floor
Before even thinking about making a deal on a Tiger or Cheetah, existing owners will attest that you want to bring it to a shop that knows these airplanes in and out—no matter how many upgrades and refurbishments it has. “These airplanes require specific maintenance to be done over the years, and that also means paying attention to plenty of critical items during the prebuy inspection, including checking the wing spar for corrosion. You also want to regularly pull the nosegear fork to inspect for corrosion because it’s a part that isn’t made any longer,” Bruno Brasileiro told us. He knows a little something about Grummans, having owned a Cheetah made famous by his popular Fly With Bruno social media channels and also recently upgrading to a Tiger that was once an AOPA sweepstake airplane. While this Tiger was a total refurb, Bruno made sure to have a Grumman expert look it over carefully and flew it around for a few hours before committing to it. The real scrutinizing came when he brought it to the only mechanic he trusts to work on his Grummans for its annual inspection—hundreds of miles from his home base. Bruno made it clear that following the Grumman inspection checklist to the letter is the only way to maintain these planes, and that doesn’t always happen. Like many other models, a typical A&P may be unaware of the maintenance items unique to these aircraft, including those required by the bonded fuselage. Worth mentioning is a 2020 tail delamination incident of an AA-5 Traveler resulted in an AD requiring inspection and riveting of any bond delamination.
If there’s a single piece of hardware on the Grumman that requires attention and extra care (aside from spar corrosion), it’s this nosewheel. For any AA-5 that’s a candidate to own, pay attention to that nosewheel while taxiing. Improper tensioning in the spring washers, sloppy torque tube struts, worn tires and loose axle nuts all contribute to nosewheel shimmy. And sniff around for a fuel smell because the tanks might be leaking. These are wet wings and an FAA AD addresses the fuel tank sealant. Speaking of ADs, these planes are relatively AD-free but there are two significant inspections: a 100-hour inspection of the ailerons (which can be eliminated entirely by a one-time AMOC) and a 200-hour inspection of the McCauley prop hub for cracks. The AD is a good argument for a highly recommended Sensenich propeller upgrade, which eliminates an annoying RPM restriction between 1850 and 2250 RPM in descending flight and right at the usual instrument approach speed. There are also STCs for three-blade composite props.
For help with all things Grumman, our advice is to turn to the Grumman Owners and Pilots Association, which is among the best and perhaps the most enthusiastic owners groups around. There’s also a 5000-plus-member Facebook private group, Grumman Tiger and Cheetah AA5 and AG5 Planes, that’s always fresh with useful material from knowledgeable members. As mentioned, Fly With Bruno is a great resource for learning a lot about owning and flying these planes.
Safety, Current Market
The fleet size is relatively small. There were a total of 1323 AA-5B Tigers and 900 AA-5A Cheetahs built, while American General built roughly 150 AG-5B models before it closed the doors. The parts inventories and rights were sold to FletchAir—a good source of parts and knowledge. Interestingly, there was also Tiger Aircraft in Virginia—which built roughly 50 AG-5B models when it opened in 1999, but it closed shop up 2007. These were the most modern ones made, complete with Garmin G1000 glass cockpits. We flew one for a flight report early on and walked away impressed with the overall package. Sadly, the airplane never sold in big numbers. The assets were eventually acquired by True Flight Aerospace. Will there be another new Tiger?
Eyeballing the latest NTSB reports on Grumman wrecks showed what we always knew about these airplanes and that’s that poor maintenance (or no maintenance) tops the list of probable causes. The good news is that the total number of landing-related accidents (RLOC, overshot landings, hitting objects on approach and LOC on go-arounds) was also low for the AA-5 series. But there were too many VFR into IMC wrecks, fuel exhaustion and botched go-arounds. Training, training, training—coupled with careful maintenance—is the only way to own a Grumman.
And if you want to own a good one, plan on ponying up big. It’s not unusual to find refurbished models with low-time engines and nice paint work fetching well north of $100,000. On the low end are the Cheetahs that haven’t been loved—somewhere in the $50,000 range, but good ones can sell for more than some Tigers. Still, our advice is the same as it ever was: Buy the best one you can afford and plan to spend a lot to get it to the standards that an experienced Grumman expert will want to bring it to. Got useful real-world experience and advice to share that can help perspective buyers? Chime in.
We owned an AA-5 Traveler for just shy of a decade. Over 900+ hours we flew the little Grumman all over the Eastern U.S. (with only 150hp on tap it’s not a good mountain flying option). As Larry notes, it’s crisp handling, fun-to-fly, and will get you from here to there relatively inexpensively. In the case of the AA-5, plan for a leisurely trip–she was only good for 105kts true. But she was honest, and rewarded skilled piloting with spectacular landings.
As a many-decade, thousands-of-hours Grumman owner/pilot, I really appreciate Larry’s article. It points out all the reasons I’m devoted to the type. A few things need clarification…
While a “standard” AA-5A Cheetah uses the old AA-5 Traveler wings with their 37 gallons (usable) tanks, over 90% of the Cheetahs left the factory with the optional long-range tanks giving 51 gallons usable – essentially, Tiger wings on a Cheetah airframe. Given the Cheetah’s 200 lb lower max gross weight, Cheetah pilots planning to use the rear seats need to be familiar with the tabs in the wing tanks allowing them to load 36.4 gallons accurately.
If you find one of the few Cheetahs with the “standard” tanks, you can increase fuel capacity to 51 gallons by trade the standard wings for Tiger wings. It’s actually a pretty simple job to swap the wings – essentially, bolt-off/bolt-on, no STC required. The Travelers, all have the standard Traveler/Cheetah wings with the 37-gallon capacity tanks, and you cannot swap them for Tiger wings due to aft cg limits associated with the Traveler’s different, less powerful horizontal stab.
Generally speaking, Cheetahs weigh at about 1400 lb or less, so their useful load is more like 800 lb. All the AA-5-series have removable rear seats which fold flat to give a 6-foot cargo bay with a capacity of 340 lb. You can even sleep two in sleeping bags back there (and it’s been done, many times). And yes, if you remove the front wheel, you can get a full size bike back there in cargo mode.
To clarify Larry’s remark about “position[ing] it just right of the centerline”, you would taxi the plane so it’s lined up on centerline but pointed about 5 degrees to the right. You can also line up straight, hold the brakes, run the engine to 1800 RPM (a good time for a last check of the engine gauges), and then release brakes. The airflow over the rudder provides sufficient directional control that you shouldn’t need to use the brakes to counter the torque/p-factor left-turning effects.
It’s important to realize these planes don’t fly like your average Cessna/Piper 150-180HP type. That’s why most insurance companies want to see either 10 hours PIC in type or a checkout from a qualified Grumman instructor. The best place for that training is the GOPA’s Pilot Familiarization Program which has been running for over 50 years. See http://www.grummanpilots.org and look under “Instruction” for more.
The discussion of Tiger props doesn’t make clear that replacing the OEM McCauley prop with the STC’d Sensenich not only eliminates the yellow arc, but also the 200-hour dye penetrant inspection. The Sensenich prop with STC is available from Fletchair, the source for all thing Grumman for about $5K last I checked. Also, the 3-bladed c/s prop from MT-USA that Larry mentioned is an electrically-controlled constant speed prop which costs in the neighborhood of $18K installed.
Finally, in addition to the sources Larry mentioned, the Grumman Gang email list has been running for more than 30 years. See http://www.grumman.net for more information. I hope this information helps bring more pilots into the fabulous Grumman community.
Excellent post, Ron.
I first flew a Cheetah, then a Tiger, as a teenager. So, after wanting one for 40+ years, I’ve owned a ’78 Tiger for almost 5 years. It was everything I remembered – good handling, really good visibility, good speed and very comfortable despite my large size. I flight plan for 130 KTAS at 2600 rpm with fuel burn of about 9 gph. Although it has simple systems, many shops aren’t familiar with the AA-5 series, so I strongly recommend supporting the Grumman gurus like ExcelAir Services (Indiana), FletchAir (Texas) and AuCountry (California). True Flight Aerospace in Valdosta, Georgia is also a great resource and they own the Type Certificate.
One more thing — the annual GOPA Convention is happening next week (9/15-18) at Groton CT (KGON). Vistors welcome, especially those interested in learning more about the Grumman airplanes and people and the fun we have together.
Thanks for these—this kind of owner feedback will be an important element of this regular used airplane feature moving forward, so keep an eye out for our posts looking for feedback for future Smart Plane Shopper reports.