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Need help persuading my boss!

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HMR

I Live by the River.
Joined
Dec 18, 2001
Posts
1,048
My boss has been looking for a new plane for the past 4 months. He wants a twin cessna (340, 414, or 421). His plan is to fly it for a year and buy a King Air C90. Last week our board of directors informed us that the company's profits and travel needs are growing faster than expected. They want to get the C90 now (yahoo!). Neither of us have ever flown one and he's conviced that a C90 would be too hard for us to fly.
I'd like to hear from any of you with C90 experience. Are they any harder to fly than a 414 (a plane we're both comfortable in)? I have 1200tt/400multi. My boss has about the same and we'd both be required to attend Flight Safety.

Thanks,
HMR
 
From everything I have heard, King Airs are "easy" to fly and a total pilots' plane. I'm pretty sure the 414 is bigger PITA than a C90. If the BOD is willing to spend $$$ for a C90, it's the way to go.
 
Show your boss the difference between the safety record for turbine vs. piston twins. If you lose an engine you'd be better off in the King Air.
 
The B model is the one with four blades, and a nice airplane to fly. Systems aren't hard, either. I was able to teach them to a friend in three days, using the Flightsafety manual as my text.

You're really going to enjoy flying this airplane.
 
King Air

For what it's worth, I have one hour in C90s. If this is any guide at all, it flew very much like an A36 Bonanza and B55 and B58 Barons. I have about 300 hours total split between the latter three aircraft.

You will have no problem flying the King Air and FlightSafety's training will be an added plus.
 
Pretty benign airplane. Should not be a problem at all with your experience level. You do need to pay very careful attention during training to the care and feeding of turbine engines. Hot sections are very expensive. It's not hard, just different.
 
I'm relatively new to the King Air C90, but i've found that it is not as hard to learn as I one thought. Systems aren't any more complicated than they would be in a 400 series Cessna, ALOT more reliable than any piston, and an engine failure is almost a non-event. Heck, the thing feathers itself and even applies rudder boost to help you keep it level! Someone with your experience should't have any trouble learning the King Air, and anyone with the ability to learn will do fine if they go through school at Flight Safety.

If your company belongs to MBAA, have them do a cost benefit analasys for you and they will tell you which one best suits your needs.
 
My guess is that with your experience the insurance cost for the C90 will kill the deal. Until either of you get to around 3000TT and 500 turbine you might not not even be able to find anyone that will insure the airplane. Same for any turbine. I know, I know. The turbine is safer and more reliable. It also costs a whole lot more to fix if you f*ck it up.
 
The plane you see to the left (until I change my pic) is one of the easiest to fly aircraft I have ever been in. It is very safe, docile and FUN. I haven't flown a twin Cessna, but highly recommend the BE90. Beechcraft are by far my favorite planes. I can't say enough good things about them.
 
It's not a matter of "hard." Hard implies difficulty, and moving in to turbine equipment will be easy in terms of difficulty.

A bigger issue is one of insurability, and experience. Total time is entirely meaningless. More important is what you've been doing for those 1,200 hours. Your time is very low, to be sure, but what you have done during that time, and what you have learned from it, counts for a lot. If it's all been in a J-3 cub, that won't be a lot of use transitioning to a King Air.

How will your insurance carrier view your past experience? Are you up to speed on instruments? Have you flown your approaches at a fast enough speed, and how are you on systems knowledge? Are you serious about your flying? These things count for a lot. It's not a matter of a king air being a hard airplane to fly; it isn't. (What airplane is??). It's a matter of being able to do it; availability, insurance, judgement, basic flying skills.

Remember too, that at a reasonably low experience level, the airplane may be far more capable than you. That is, it may be equipped and capable of going places that you are not. A big judgement issue is knowing your limitations and respecting them. Don't let that equipment, or the boss, take you places or in conditions you shouldn't be.
 

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