Imagine this: You’re sitting in your favorite recliner in your living room, watching a reality show with your wife that you swear you hate but secretly keep up with every bit of detail. The smell of an almost-ready home-cooked dinner fills the room, and you take a sip of your bourbon old-fashioned, which took you years to perfect. Your laptop is glowing in the corner of the room, and you casually check your watch. The bidding has officially ended. As you stroll over to check the results, your eyes widen with excitement, and the mundane dinner quickly turns into a celebration.
You’ve won. For $2.34 million, you’re the proud new owner of a P-51 Mustang and you never even left the house.
This is a real story—well, part of it, at least! A real buyer purchased a P-51 Mustang at an online auction for $2.34M, but I can admit my imagination of the final moments was crafted for a good story. That is how I like to imagine the buyers who surf the web in search of the best and most unique deals. And these buyers are no strangers to Aircraft Bidder.
Reimagining the Aircraft Sale
Aircraft Bidder (www.AircraftBidder.com) is shaking up the way people buy and sell aircraft—whether it’s a Skyhawk or a warbird. Established in 2020, Aircraft Bidder is an online platform that specializes in auctioning aircraft and allows a set period for buyers to submit bids in their hopes of winning a great opportunity.
Aircraft Bidder’s Vice President of Sales, Gordon Ramsay, helps explain the process:
“We are a licensed auction site that capitalizes on the interest of purchasers bidding against each other to purchase a given airplane. A purchaser can do their own due diligence on the subject aircraft where it sits, but they must do so before bidding on the plane. Once a bid is placed, it is a commitment to purchase the aircraft at that bid price if the bid meets the owner’s reserve price on the plane.”
Why Go to Auction?
So why would aircraft owners or serious buyers turn to an auction instead of the traditional handshake-and-haggling approach? On the seller side, it creates a clear path to the sale. The process has a set schedule they can expect, they get to skip traditional negotiations and counteroffers, and sell the plane as-is, where-is. If the bidding exceeds their pre-approved reserve price, the closing will occur within 72 business hours. For sellers who value speed, predictability, and exposure, the format can deliver results in as little as 40 days versus traditional listings that may drag on through pre-buys and fall-throughs for months.
And who makes an ideal buyer on the site? Gordon explains, “A buyer willing to purchase as-is can most often capture a better value and buy in an uncluttered marketplace, where they have pure visibility on what others are willing to pay for the aircraft during the bidding process.”
Buyers’ confidence is driven by an online portfolio of photos, digital logbooks, spec sheets, and sometimes even video walkarounds. They are encouraged and invited to visit the aircraft in person and verify as much information as possible before bidding. Although they cannot conduct a complete tear-down pre-buy inspection, they can get a lot out of the information provided and a visit. “No reasonable requests are turned away,” Gordon emphasizes.
When I first heard of online aircraft auctions, I admit that my first thought was, “What kind of aircraft are even on there? It must be crazy stuff.” And while I wasn’t totally wrong, I was also way off. I’ve seen just about everything pass through Aircraft Bidder—especially since the auction site is owned by Lone Mountain Aircraft, the brokerage where I work. Personally, I’ve represented Piper Arrows, Cessna Skyhawks, Skylanes, and a variety of pistons through the platform. But the real showstoppers? Those come from the turbine and twin-engine world.
Spotlight: Notable Twin & Turbine Sales
Here are just a few of the standout aircraft that have crossed the digital auction block on Aircraft Bidder:
P-51 Mustang As already mentioned, the Mustang was a favorite of mine. It was a 1944 North American Aero P-51D auctioned in 2023, complete with a seller-paid annual to be completed after the auction ended, a two-place seating configuration, new paint in January of 2011, and only 160 hours on the overhauled engine. As aviators, it is our duty to drool over Mustangs, and this was no different. Our company group text was going wild, leading to the final moments of the auction. One team member was even joking around and pushing for the group to all pitch in to purchase the Mustang as our new company plane…or was it a joke?
AOPA’s Extra 300 When asked about some of his most memorable auctions, Gordon Ramsay said, “We auctioned the AOPA Extra 300 at an astonishing price, which exceeded the seller’s expectations.” This aerobatic plane drove a lot of traffic to the site and even included a period of in-person viewing on display at Sun N’ Fun that drew major attention.
UH1 Huey Helicopter A piece of history that drew significant attention and strong bidding. The Huey is among several helicopters that have transacted on the site. The Huey boasts over 4600 pounds of useful load and this one in particular was a 1966 model that had been operated under a Restricted Category for Pest Control/External Load Part 133 Operations.
A fleet of Kodiak 100s One of the Kodiak 100s sold was an amphibious floatplane configured for sightseeing tours and charter operations. It had 10 seats total, leather seats, and 617 hours since new. It had just one owner since new and no damage history. A real nice find!
The auction site can be a great platform for aircraft with unique history, special specifications, and collectibles, but it has also proven a great success with everyday aircraft. “Late model Cessna 172s have brought record-breaking prices as flight schools have scrambled for these aircraft and are willing to pay well above market price to bid against other schools. Everything from Cubs to Citations has sold on the site,” says Gordon Ramsay.
What’s Next?
The digital age is among us; there is no denying that. Leaning into modern purchasing techniques will give buyers an edge and keep them on the heels of great opportunity. Aircraft Bidder shared their latest feature, which is called The Hangar. Gordon states, “The Hangar will offer a similar sales process to the Aircraft Bidder page, but without a specific scheduled bidding period. Potential buyers can do the same due diligence and submit an offer on the aircraft, which will either be accepted if they meet the reserve selling price or rejected if not. Purchases are still as-is, where-is, and funding must occur within 72 business hours of the acceptance of an offer.”
Auction or Broker? Why Not Both?
The beauty of Aircraft Bidder is that it doesn’t aim to replace traditional sales, but rather it expands the options. For the right aircraft and situation, an auction creates momentum, clarity, and results. And for sellers who need more customization or want to drive the conversation, traditional brokerage still reigns.
Either way, it’s exciting to see the industry lean into modern tools that meet buyers where they are—sometimes, quite literally, at their kitchen tables.
