8 seats for 1.3M?

[bigD]

My boss has decided that he'd like to have a little more room than what our current little Cheyenne II can give him. He's telling me that he'd like to seat 6 people in the back comfortably. I can understand why - many trips I fly involve taking 6, and in the Cheyenne that means one is sitting on the sideways facing seat/toilet and another is sitting up front with my dumb @ss!

Here are the limitations - he'd like to keep the cost at about 1.3M. We also want an airplane where the paint, interior, and avionics are already where they need to be. Engines at mid time or lower, with no scheduled big ticket items due anytime soon (like PT disks).

I've been tasked to figure out what we need to get. All my boss gives a crap about is a comfortable interior. 95% of our trips are less than 400nm, so a couple of knots here or there isn't too big of an issue.

My boss of course would love to get a King Air. Now, I don't think 1.3M is gonna be enough for a decent B200, but a straight 200 might be a choice. Maybe a B100? Or a Cheyenne IIIA? Of course we don't have to spend the entire 1.3M - for example I think it'd be preferred to get a *solid* B100 or Cheyenne III for 1.2M than a marginal straight 200 for 1.3M.

Anyway, that's my situation, and I'd appreciate any thoughts or suggestions. I know very little about the King Air, so any tips on what to look for as far as avionics, options, gotchas, etc...would be great.

 

[Dizel8]

A Cessna 441 should fit the bill, might get -10 engines.

http://www.trade-a-plane.com/unprotected/specs/34678.html

http://www.corpair.com/88823.html

 

[chriskcmo]

A B100 with -10 engines does pretty well. I know of a charter company nearby that operates a couple of them and regularly take 8 passengers on charters.

 

[CheeseDick]

A Mitsubishi Diamond 1A+ the precursor to the beech jet, fits your parameters and can be had for about 1.1-1.4 seating for 7.

 

[KeroseneSnorter]

An old 550 Citation might be found for that price. Well probably not listed at that, but could probably be bought for it. Still gives you the single pilot ability(with waiver) and seats 7 in the back +one on the crapper..

Other than that All I can think of is one of the merlins, king air, or conquest maybe?


EDIT: Early model PC-12 can probably be had for 1.3

 

[El Bucho]

Mitsubishi Mu2 Marquise. If I remember you can put 7 in the back with 1 more up in the front with you. Does like 300 knots. Plenty of power from the Dash 10's. Nice flyin' airplane. You can probably pick up a nice one for 900k and still have plenty of left over for any upgrades.

EB

 

[bigD]

Thanks all for the suggestions! There's a lot there that I didn't think of. And to be clear, when I said 8 seats, I meant 6 in the back and 2 up front. Of course, *more* seats shouldn't be a problem either.

 

[Jeff Helgeson]

Hs-125

Look at some older Hawkers 400s with the 731 engines and all the ADs or better yet, an HS-125-700. RVSM equipped would be an issue. Check the ADs and the upgrades.

Stand-up cabin, hold 9 people, nice lav in the back, galley and bags up front. Don't get one with reverseres.

 

[Capt1124]

The Hawker is a good suggestion; you could get a Westwind for that much or less pretty easily.

 

[sydeseet]

Citation II. Can be bought and operated cheaply, may not even need to RVSM it unless you have long legs in mind (not those legs, the mileage kind) and it's an easy transition for the owner and crew from a Cheyenne II. Every mechanic on the planet can work on them and they can be kept at a 4000' field with no worries.

Just my .02. I'd avoid a Hawker 700A like the plague. My last employer tried one of those. Mechanical reliability? Fuggetabouit.