If I were going to buy one of these aircraft (C500/501), I would try to find a used Stallion (Sierra modified ISP) on the TAP Elite engine program. This removes a lot of the uncertainty from the operating costs and provides stunning performance vs the stock 500/501. Cost-wise, the Stallion would be comparable to a King Air 200 ($1200 x hour) going 80-100 kts faster and 15-18K feet higher. Cabin size and payload will be better in the KA200. My brother used to work with Mark at Sierra a few years back, and these are some of the specs I remember:

* If you want/need, 6000 ft/min initial climb rate which tapers off to 2-3K x min. This translates into being able to punch through most weather and into blue skies in just a few minutes.
* Climb to 43K (direct - no step climbs) - 25 min.
* Fuel burn 110 gallons x hour.
* Typical cruise 380 kts
* Long range cruise power will provide slightly over 1200 nm
* Great short field capabilities (for a jet).

You also get rid of the thrust reversers (added complexity/cost) and FADEC type control which makes engine operation pretty straight forward.

A Stallion will cost at least double than a nice 500/501 but you get your money back in peace of mind (if on the engine program) and performance.

I would love to own a 501. It would be the perfect plane to go with my family on my 900 NM trip. Unfortunately, I would spend so much money in fuel and MX that I would not have the money to own the home I make the trip for. I am very happy for those that can afford such a machine. Very cool!!!

Here's something I found from a few years ago. I just don't see a pegged VSI at 6K x minute every day...

Yep. That's where I want to go!

We were doing our annual recurrent / 61.58 / SPW work in the S/II a couple weeks ago and had no trouble pegging the VSI. That was with stock engines and nowhere near max thrust and probably 2klbs under gross.

... of course we were practicing emergency descents at the time. ha ha These birds really drop like a rock when you throw the boards out and point the nose at the ground!

John IV

We were doing our annual recurrent / 61.58 / SPW work in the S/II a couple weeks ago and had no trouble pegging the VSI. That was with stock engines and nowhere near max thrust and probably 2klbs under gross.

... of course we were practicing emergency descents at the time. ha ha These birds really drop like a rock when you throw the boards out and point the nose at the ground!

John IV

That's an interesting statement, although industry data shows quite the opposite is happening and there is no indication "Cessna is doing all it can to stop supporting" these airframes.

According to a recent AIN survey of Citation, King Air and PC-12 owners, older Citations are very well supported by Cessna, better than older KA's and only slightly below PC12s. In fact Factory service centers ranked better than Pilatus.

I agree Alex. I just don't see the resistance or reluctance to nix MX work on the legacy Citations...

Must have confused them with legacy pistons...

The only place I have seen Cessna holding back on the legacy Citations is in their reluctance to release a version of their performance calculator app for these birds. I'm not sure why this is, other than just the time that would be involved with inputting all of the data from the existing spreadsheets and graphs.

From a maintenance standpoint they are 100% on par with what I have experienced from Beechcraft, if not a bit better and they are worlds better than M7 is in their roll as factory support for the Merlin / Metro series (but let's be honest... the Merlin / Metro community would probably be better off WITHOUT M7).

Cessna has a dedicated "Team Legacy" support number. Anybody can call in and be connected directly to a technician who can answer just about any kind of technical or maintenance question you can throw at them on these planes.

I wouldn't take my almost 30 year old Citation to a factory Cessna Citation Service Center for the exact same reason that I wouldn't have taken any of my Bonanzas or Barons to a Beech Service Center, there are just too many other (more economical) options out there. That being said, the factory support has been great for me so far.

John IV