Page 19 - Volume 16 Number 2

The split airstair door is secured by six locking pins with visual indicators; there’s also an indicator for the latch between the door halves. A seal around the door is inflated by the left engine. An emergency-exit panel surrounds the forward right-hand window. The typical cabin set-up is four chairs in a club arrangement; a belted toilet
seat and an extra forward-facing seat were available but are often removed for extra space. The oval cabin, four inches wider than it is tall, makes it easier to reach the cockpit than in smaller twin Cessnas.
There’s plenty of panel space for copilot instruments, even though all 421’s were single-pilot airplanes.
The environmental controls are split between a pressurization panel on the left subpanel and heating/ cooling controls on the copilot’s side. Unless relocated, avionics circuit breakers are on the right sidewall, with the other C/Bs and electrical switches on the pilot’s sidewall. The fuel selectors are on the floor between the seats, accompanied by an emergency crossfeed shutoff handle that can be pulled to isolate fuel in a crash.
At a typical 5,500-pound equipped empty weight, with one locker tank, a full fuel load will only leave about 600 pounds available for payload, even taking advantage of a 50-pound ramp weight allowance, which is the reason most flights are made with the locker tank empty, gaining enough weight for another person. The maximum landing weight is 7,200 pounds, so an hour or so of cruising will be needed after a full-gross takeoff. There’s also a 6,733-pound
FEBRUARY 2012
TWIN & TURBINE • 17