Government purchasing does seem to be like that many times.


I keep asking why people buy King Airs and no one produces a specific answer. All I get is vague "it fits their mission" type answers. What is that mission, exactly, and why does the King Air do it better than other aircraft?

Mike C.

Citation 560. My plane carries 8 passengers with no side facing seats.


Citation is easier, faster, and safer.

The rest are special ops and I am pretty sure those privately owned $5M Blackhawk 350s were not part of any of that.

Mike C.

Get a Merlin if you want to be high up. You need a Sherpa to get to the cabin altitude from the ground.

Mike C.

Citation 560.

Get a Merlin if you want to be high up. You need a Sherpa to get to the cabin altitude from the ground.

Mike C.

For a while we owned a King Air 300 and Citation V at the same time.

Just about every passenger preferred the King Air cabin over the Citation and most thought the King Air was quieter than the Citation. The king Air door is substantial and easier to get into despite being higher. They ride pretty similar in turbulence, maybe slightly better in the Citation.

King Air maintenance is pretty straight forward, but the gear and props get expensive every 6 years. The average cost with alternating the phase 1/2 and 3/4 every year is similar to the Citation yearly maintenance except when a phase 5 is due. On a six year average I’d put the airplanes pretty equal. I know some Citation guys argue how cheap they run their airplanes, but going to the same maintenance facilities, they are pretty equal in my experience and our Citation is on a lump program.

Both airplanes are well supported and just about anyone has worked on King Airs and Citations. Parts are the same with various exceptions. Since it was mentioned, King Air tires were cheaper but you had four mains. King Air windows are hard to get now, but Citation tires were also a problem several years ago, it just depends on the current times.

The King Air can have G1000 and a new autopilot and the path for autoland. Citation can have mostly Garmin, but no autopilot and highly doubtful it will ever have autoland. I realize it doesn’t matter to most, but autoland is important to some spouses and therefore some owners

I can’t speak directly to the 350, but the King Air 300 being very similar, is one of the best flying airplanes built in my opinion. On a 500 mile trip, the king air is about 20minutes slower, but burns 150gallons less. In the high 20s in a King Air you almost always get direct routing and a short cut on arrivals to fit in with the flow. Given the choice though, I’d always pick the Citation in bad weather. Weight and balance is almost never an issue in a King Air 300/350 especially with G1000.

Both are excellent airplanes and you could argue one is better than the other, but they both have their pros and cons. I do not think you’d be disappointed owning or flying either.

You can always make your plane appear cheaper by running it 91 and skipping overhauls, and then pointing out how expensive the overhauls are on the 135 plane.

Citation 560. My plane carries 8 passengers with no side facing seats.


Citation is easier, faster, and safer.

The rest are special ops and I am pretty sure those privately owned $5M Blackhawk 350s were not part of any of that.

Mike C.

Get a Merlin if you want to be high up. You need a Sherpa to get to the cabin altitude from the ground.

Mike C.

In a similar vein how was the dispatch reliability of both? I'd assume probably near perfect? And then what about getting emergency (quick) maintenance, did you find access to techs swayed one way or the other at all?

Thanks!

Chip-

One minor point: a 350 has landed on our unpaved ranch strip (as have 90s, 200s, Cheyennes etc.). No Citation ever has. I guess you could get a 500/501 in and out, but I don’t think 560s are certified off pavement. Again, depends on your mission.

Sorry Chip, but I’ll call BS on this. Lotta CE500 and KA pilots out there, but availability gets harder when you start looking at the 300/350.

Day rate for a Citation and King Air pilot is similar - Citation a couple of hundred $ more but wont move the needle much.

“Much” harder just isn’t true.

Robert

Sure, if you are RFDS in the outback, you want a KA 350. But for corporate level transport in the CONUS, you generally aren't facing those kind of issues.

BTW, Citation V can be certified for unpaved runways with the "gravel kit". A Citation V based in Alaska servicing military radar sites at any time of the year. It was equipped with the factory wide door and the gravel kit. Very few paved runways where it was going.


The KA 350 obviously makes a better bush plane, but I don't think it makes a better corporate travel plane.

Mike C.

If you want the highest "stature" exiting the airplane, it is way up there, taller than a King Air.


Did you get that from ChatGPT?

Merlins can be operated single pilot.

Mike C.

So why does the KA 300/350 outsell the Citation V in the charter market by such a wide margin?

The answer is comfort. You don’t care - you’re up front and the plane is a tool. But for people who actually pay for charter seats, they’ve proven over and over again that they’ll pay much more for comfort than speed.

And if I’m a charter operator looking to sell seats, I’ll buy the plane my customers want to sit in. That’s the KA over the V, every time.