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NATIONWIDE AIRCRAFT FINANCING
• Specializing in Turbo Prop Aircraft – 1980 & Newer
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Match Your Need
So, at the end of the analysis, both a C90 and a 421C will accomplish your mission, and both will be much more expensive to operate than any single-engine piston. But, which do you select? My advice is to make sure you match your need to the airplane you are going to buy.
The big-piston Cessna 421C could be the exact answer to your traveling needs, and if your budget is $350,000 to $450,000, you can get one of the nicest Cessna 421Cs on the planet. You should be able to buy a 421C with super nice paint and interior, a well-stocked panel of avionics, low engine and airframe times and an example with no damage history.
That $450,000 will also buy you a C90, but that C90 will be an older 1970s version, may not have the latest avionics, may have tired paint and interior, and the engines may be mid-life. But, it’ll be a turbine, and that is scary for the uninitiated.
If you go for a Cessna 421C, make sure you place a high value on the maintenance pedigree. Maintenance in any airplane is a “pay me now or pay me later” situation. If the present owner has been skimping on maintenance, you don’t want to pay anywhere near retail. A neglected Cessna 421 can easily cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to bring it back to a high level of maintenance. And there are lots of Cessna 421s languishing outside in the weather on ramps all over the United States. But if you can find that cherry Cessna 421C, and you don’t mind paying to keep the maintenance at a very high level, it could be the perfect airplane for your mission. You can buy a lot of airplane for the money.
But, if I can afford to fly behind a PT6, I’m going to fly behind a PT6. To me, the engines are the critical factor and this is where the C90 shines. I can handle tired paint and less-than-stellar interior. I don’t mind steam gauges if they are being pushed by a nice GPS unit and a good autopilot. So, if you can find a “good bones” C90 with good engines, you’ve got something worth pursuing.
Summary
Ready to enter the turbine world? If so, the C90 is a great way to get into the game. But, I advise buyers to consider their cash reserves and their appetite for the big expenses. If a $200,000 hit would throw your company out of business or force you to sell the airplane, stay in the piston world and buy a Cessna 421. Just accept the mosquito bite main- tenance requirements that come along with owning a big piston airplane. But, if you are cash-solvent with income that you can predict far into the future, and have a mission that regularly requires four to seven people, then go for the King Air C90. I have a lot of flight time in both, and would gladly own and pilot either if it fit my mission.
Joe Casey is an FAA-DPE and an ATP, CFI, CFII (A/H), MEI, CFIG, CFIH, as well as a retired U.S. Army UH60 stan- dardization instruc-tor/examiner. An active instructor in the PA46 and King Air markets, he has accumulated 14,300-plus hours of flight time, with more than 5,200 dual-given as a flight instructor. Contact Joe at joe@flycasey.com or 903.721.9549.
8 • TWIN & TURBINE / August 2020