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cooler. I suspect the XP-67A STC for the King Air 350 will be very successful as the years go on. Why? Well, you know the answer already – there’s no substitute for horsepower.
If buying or selling an airplane, the biggest engine variant will always demand the premium price seeing as the market loves horsepower too. In the MU2 world, the Marquise and Solitaire will always outsell the other variants because they have the biggest engines. Similarly, the King Air 90 with the biggest engine will sell first. Piper Aircraft moved from the 310 hp Malibu to the 350 hp Mirage for the benefits of horsepower. More horsepower equates to more demand.
And, when the chips are down with that unexpected engine anomaly on one side, you want the good side having horsepower in reserve. My biggest argument against low-power multi-engine airplanes is the lesser performance when an engine emergency occurs. Would you rather have an engine failure at night in bad weather over inhospitable terrain with icing at MGW in a King Air F90 or King Air A90 (with less available horsepower)? If things go awry, I want the stable with the most horses.
I get this question often when working with clients who want to buy a PA46: “Should I get a super nice piston version or go for a turbine?” That’s an easy answer for me. My answer is always, “If you can afford it, always go for the turbine.” Horse- power changes the game. The Piper Mirage is a fine airplane, but it is a relative pony with an anemic climb rate that has trouble getting up the highest flight levels or handling icing
conditions. But bolt on the -35 JetPROP conversion, and you’ve got a true thoroughbred that’ll use half the runway both in takeoff and landing, gain 1,500 fpm during climb, and cruise 50 KTAS faster. The airframe is the same, but horsepower makes all the difference.
I can vividly remember when taking my instrument rating check ride many years ago, A.L. Johnson (longtime DPE from Nacogdoches, Texas) asked me, “What determines the rate of climb?” I stumbled, hemmed and hawed, and convinced him that I only knew enough to be dangerous. My poor response prompted a good discussion that I remember to this day. The answer to A.L.’s question is, “excess horsepower.” I never forgot A.L. Johnson and never forgot that question. In fact, I now ask that question during almost every checkride I administer. The amount of excess horsepower will determine the climb rate. So, when a bigger engine is mounted to an airframe, all of that additional horsepower goes directly into the rate of climb. That is why the Beechcraft Duke with a turbine Duke conversion will out-climb most jets, and the piston Duke has performance more equal to the Piper Mirage.
Is the largest engine version of an airplane right for you, or should you go for the small-engine variant?
That’s an easy question to answer in a practical sense. All you have to do is lease the type of airplane you want to buy with the largest engine and then see if you can pull the power back. Most cannot do it. For example, if you are considering
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TWIN & TURBINE • 23