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Citation 500/501 info...?

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acpilot

I am...PROFESSOR FATE!
Joined
Aug 27, 2006
Posts
2,462
I work for a charter outfit in the SW and we are looking for a Citation 500/501 to add to the cert. Are there any strange MX/safety issues that we should be looking for and how much total time is "too much time" to consider?

Also, if anyone knows an owner willing to consider adding his/her jet to a 135 cert, PM me.

Thanks,
ACP
 
If you can. Add a 550 to your fleet. I flew them for four years and they were pretty bullet proof. Better avionics with the primus system too.

As for any strange issues, the only things you need to watch for would be the thrust reversers. They work well, but we had a few of them unlock and one deploy in flight (not me personally). The avionics were pretty good and the universal fms worked really well.
 
I have flown the 500 , 500lw, and the 550.
They are all OK planes easy to fly and maint. was not a big deal. Make sure of maint history is legit.

10,000 hrs Total Time is a issue if you have to pay for the 10k inspection.
 
I would stick to one with below 5000 hours. Its a good airplane. Like the earlier post the 550 (especially the Bravo) is a great airplane. More room, awesome range for that size aircraft, and very cheap to operate.

The problem with the 500/501 is that most 135 deals will require two pilots and then you are down to a 2-3 passenger bird if you plan on going anywhere
 
Thanks for all the info! I think we'll be looking for a 550 now...boss agrees. Keep the info coming though!

-ACP
 
The Citation II is essentially the same aircraft w/o glass and a couple other minor features. If money is an issue look at the Citation II however if you are going to be flying it look for a Bravo (550B).

In my opinion if you are looking to make money you can't go wrong with many of the Cessna products
 
You can find a Bravo in the $3-3.5M range, or a II with low to mid-time engines in the $1.7-$2.1M range.

I know where you can find a really nice II starting in March next year :D
 
I still see these old birds all over the place, some with over 10K on the airframe. Lab Corp had one with around 30K hours on it when they sold it to a guy in Europe a few years back. :D With rising fuel costs and maintenance on older aircraft it's rather surprising so many are still in daily service with small companies and with small 135 outfits.
 
Our 25 year old C-II burns about 1300lb the first hour, 900lb every hour after that. It has averaged less than 300 hours/yr of airframe time.

The CJ2+ we take delivery of Q1 next year will give us 50+ kts higher TAS and burn about 20% less fuel in doing so...but costs more than 3 times what a decent 6000-8000hr legacy 550 will cost to acquire.
 

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