Tim - If I wanted to have fun while commuting, I'd skip the Aerostar and buy an L-39C for about the same price.... I could do more than 60° banks!

Tim

Comparable operating costs?

I've been out of town for a while and not on BT, but just wanted to thank my fellow 421 owners/supporters for correcting Mr. Keeping's inaccurate information!

Robert

Robert the "fortunate"pilot owners of 421's know the true facts and costs.

That's what I thought as well, until I started talking to some TC owners and found out the operational costs per hour were pretty close to my Aerostar. But there was another scary scenario rearing its ugly head: if an engine hand grenades you're facing $250K+. Money I simply don't have laying around, nor would I likely ever. But, as I found out, you actually don't have to have all that money in a pile. You can buy a half time engine, or closer to a runout etc and hang that on, for about the same as any piston engine overhaul. And that's when I decided to commit to it. You still need to be able to have enough to cover a HSI, but again, that's no worse than a piston engine overhaul in cost.

No, but I'm just on liability only now and it's ridiculously cheap. I'll step up to some better coverage eventually when I get some more experience, so cost will increase then.

Just because old Turbines are very cheap and easy to buy does not mean I want my family riding around "hard IFR" in the flight levels in an old Turbine with differed MX. I have a friend who bought a old 690 and experienced every single emergency possible in the two years he owned it.

Even if you buy one for a dollar it will still cost a lot of money to make it safe and reliable, provided the pilot wants "Safe and Reliable".

Adam - is your Turbo Commander flying yet?

The 421C is an outstanding platform and reliable. The stories I read about how bad the engines are just make me laugh. The engines will meet and can exceed TBO.

The problem relates more to the pilots abuse of the engines, lack of knowledge or ignorance and the lack of proper maintenance.

I was hoping the Thielert/Continental CD-300 Diesel would have received their STC for the 421. They also did trials on the Duke and Aerostar as well. Performance numbers were great doing about 23.2 GPH for both engines. Price I believe was around $60K an engine.

The Duke trials was really impressive with the Diesel. 2000 NM, 2400 TBO, 220 KTS/FL 220 and burning 20 GPH both sides.

+1

If you choose a early TP like Adam has you can avoid some of the calendar items that make TP more expensive.

Remember Not all TP have the same number of calendar items.

That's one of the things that makes the mx more expensive on a TP, than a 421 for instance.

The fact that the power plant is turbine will a actually make the yearly Mx less expensive.

Flying around in a neglected airplane is a bad idea no matter what the power plant is.

Sadly, no.

now I'm looking at a 421

Hello all, great topic. I have good friend purchasing a 421b in the Tampa area. Just want to ask if someone can recommend a shop for a prebuy?
Thanks in advance.
Miguel

With kids it's tough for them I think. I've literally had to interrupt my initial climb to make a landing for a potty stop, where the climb was a climbout from the previous potty stop for the same kid. What am I going to do? Get mad at a kid who has to use the bathroom? That's not a vector towards any good outcome...

Whether it should or shouldn't be the case, it is, and having access to a potty is a big psychological deal and a medium-sized practical deal for making GA travel family-friendly.