Page 12 - Twin & Turbine May 2017

1
IN
1
0
0
Ma
•
7
TW
W
I
I
N
N&
&
T
T
U
UR
RB
BI
value and maintenance needs at the time of resale for the aircraft you are considering? Will there be a viable, and preferably active, market for your plane and what will minimize your potential downside?
The attraction with a legacy aircraft is the low acquisition cost for the capability that a jet provides. To ensure this aircraft remains a “great buy,” do a very thorough pre-buy inspection. An older aircraft could have stories to tell through its logbooks that will need to be considered, not just by you but also next purchaser to whom you will be selling one day. It will require that you pour over them and really know what you have. In any of these scenarios it is wise to hire an expert to help as your advocate. Then you can decide if those “stories” are acceptable. In addition, you will need to determine what cosmetic upgrades will be required, and if the existing cockpit technology is a platform that can be upgraded to future regulatory demands, as well as safety advancements.
The original CitationJet, as well as its successors, continue to be an ideal pick for the first-time jet buyer, It represents a straightforward transition from a propeller aircraft, awarding the pilot with a 525 type rating that can be transitioned to other aircraft in the CJ family down the road. With prices for a “straight CJ” currently in the low-$1 million range, a buyer has many upgrade options, such as the Garmin G600, GTN 750 or even a G1000 retrofit. In addition, investments in interior and paint refreshes must be considered.
“There are many great flight deck upgrades available that not only replace aging equipment, but provides new safety features and ease of single- pilot operation,” White said.
Furthermore, a Sierra Industries offers the Stallion modification, which retrofits the 500 or 501 SP with Williams FJ44-2A engines. With better technology power plants, the Stallion provides for more takeoff thrust, higher cruise speeds, a FL430 service ceiling, and lower fuel consumption.
•T
NE EM
a
y
y2
20
0
1
1
7
Why I Love the Citation Mustang Entry-level Model 510 is a simpler and better rst jet.
by Ken Fielding
followed by turboprop time in King Airs, Commanders and Cheyennes. Then I moved into jets with the Citation ISP (Model 501) and most recently the Citation Mustang (Model 510). I couldn’t have imagined in 1980 that those numbers, 150 and 510, would provide the bookends to my ying career. Or that I would have the good fortune to wrap up my career ying a great aircraft like the Mustang.
In the mid 2000’s, after thousands of hours in piston-powered and turboprop aircraft, a friend and longtime client offered me the chance. He had decided to move up into a 501 (there are those numbers again). Insurance would dictate that he need a mentor to help with the transition from his Piper Malibu Mirage into the jet. Because of my other experience, I could qualify to y with him with just 20 hours of training and a type rating check ride. When he asked if I was interested I said yes.
We ew together in the 501 for almost 200 hours over the span of a couple of years. Lots of trips between Montana where we both live and Los Angeles where his family has business interests and a second home. The plane was fun to y and served his needs although it was dated having been designed in the late 1960s. He spent a lot of money to upgrade to RVSM capability, as well as avionics. It was a nice ship though it had its share of mechanical issues and the upgrades produced their own set of operational quirks. For example, the Garmin 530W had the capability to do LPV approaches, but the Sperry autopilot would not recognize and track the glide path from the GPS receiver.
At the same time, I began following the development of the 510. It was clearly aimed at the same entry-level market as the 501 but re ected all the technological improvements that the intervening 40 years had produced. When comparing the two aircraft it was apparent that Cessna had addressed a lot of the things that needed to be changed.
Ask any 501 pilot and they will say that the environmental system can be a problem. On a sunny day, the ight deck is toasty at cruising altitude, but the cabin is not warm enough. Turn up the heat for those in back and the pilots roast. In the summer the air conditioning works well enough on the ground if a freon system is installed to assist the air cycle machine. But it shuts down at lift off, just when the engines are putting out maximum bleed air under full power. Now everyone is too warm.
The Mustang solved that with the two environmental zones: Separate temperature controls, separate circulation fans, the left engine bleed air heats the ight deck, the right does the cabin. Freon air conditioning is standard equipment. The only thing missing is a temperature readout so the pilot can monitor cabin temperature. If the folks in back are not comfortable they shout. If they are really uncomfortable, they throw things.
The 501 went though numerous inverters, the unit that converts the DC electrical output of the generators into AC for the radar, autopilot and slaved gyros. New inverters were dif cult to nd and very expensive, so we always found rebuilt units with very uneven results. Many a time we sat at the end of the runway at Santa Monica waiting to get our IFR release only to have the selected inverter die just as we were cleared to go. Everything operates on DC in the Mustang: no inverters.
I learned to y in a Cessna 150 in 1980. What a thrill it was for me to be at the controls of the sporty little aerobatic trainer with the checkered tail markings. I sometimes shared the traf c pattern at my home airport with Cessna’s entry level jet of the time, a Citation I operated by the regional telephone company. I had no thought that I might one day move up to the high end of the Cessna product line.
Checking my logbook now, I nd 15 other models of Cessna aircraft in which I have own: as a pilot, instructor or designated examiner. I graduated from single- to multi-engine ying in a Cessna 340 doing Part 135 charter service,