My aerostar just lunched a valve this weekend....
I'm getitng weary of turbos, plugs, valves, mags, etc etc...
Spending a significant portion of my flying attention on the EGT's CHT's etc....

The turbine guys talk about no maintance events between annuals....
The mission is 2 to 4 people 300 to 1000nm.

I think I'd prefer something TPE rather than PT6....
This is owner flown, so time based rather than calandar based big maintinence events would be prefered....

MU2, commander, Conquest, Merlin, Cheyenne, or King Air?

What would the minimum price of entry be for a fully sorted out debugged turboprop....

Single or twin?

Sounds like a job for a meridian.

One million will do it:

https://www.controller.com/listings/air ... r-meridian

RAS

$1 Mil give or take.

MU-2 will be the bargain in the bunch if you can deal with the stigma and SFAR.

If you are serious then go shop all the models you have listed and buy the best example you can afford.

Seems unlikely you will get anything that doesn't have a calendar based component to its inspection regime anymore... MU2 has an annual component to its inspections. Basically for me, at about 100hrs/year, I have to do something annually. That said, some years are bigger than others (100hr/200hr/1 year is a "small" inspection, 600hr/3year is a "bigger" inspection, closer to the scope of an annual in the piston world).


Well, you know what I'm partial to. I think MU2 will be the least expensive of those options to own and operate.

You will need to be OK with annual training required by SFAR, but basically in my experience it's not different than what insurance required me to do with the Cessna 340. So if you're insured, you're going to be doing annual recurrent in this class of airplane.


I haven't followed the market, so I'm not entirely sure, but I would think something like this one would be pretty good. Avionics look OK (not superb, but OK), TPE331-10 conversion and low time engines (where the value really is on these). It's probably priced a hair high but make an offer and see what happens.

Do some detailed research, you'll get to know what things to look for, what you want, what things are worth, etc.

Pilatus

Paul, you're thinking is good - TPE will be a lot cheaper than PT6. MU-2's used to be the bang for buck king, but after the SFAR and the safety improvements, I've seen the prices increase more on them than on Commanders, making Commanders probably a more economical choice these days. You can get into a lower end 690A for about $300K. It will have old avionics and higher time -5 engines, but it'll fly. It probably won't have the permanent spar for that price, so you'll have to inspect that every 36 months and do the gears every 5 years. Not a huge amount of money, but still an inconvenience.

Now, if you really want to save money, you basically need the plane I own. A 680V with the Century Dash 1 engine upgrade. These planes have no spar inspection, no mandatory gear overhauls or inspections, and no SB241, no expensive heated windscreens or anything like that to contend with. I think they're probably the cheapest twin turbines you can run anywhere, at least on paper. On par with an Aerostar. No speed demons, but not bad either, 240-250kts up high on 60gal/hr. Considering the 690A with -5's only does about 20-25kts more, it's not a bad deal.

I'd be willing to entertain selling mine down the road, if you're truly interested. Everything has been done to it. New panel, new interior going in now, new winglets, new radar, newly polished windscreens etc.

680V...
https://www.controller.com/listings/air ... ander-680v

You don't want that one. It's got the original -43A engines, 2000hr TBO, hydraulic pressurization and sloooooooooow. You need the Century converted models. They're rarely on market, but if I sold mine it wouldn't be much more than what he's asking. And that's with everything done to it and new panel etc.

Has anyone mentioned the Silver Eagle? Seems the right size for 2 to 4 people and 300 to 800 nm missions. Selling price in the neighborhood of 500 AMU occasionally.

Shocker, Paul - we've all advocated for the airplane we own....

Don't want a single....

Ha, well, to prove I'm not completely one-eyed, I'd look into Merlins as well. I'm kind of a high or mid-wing guy myself, but they sure as hell have some impressive performance. 7.0psi cabin diff to start with, which makes them really comfy for long range travel. And 2600nm range - insane! BT member Erwin Klassen flies his Merlin IIIB from deep South America to the US with just a single stop.

Merlin's

https://www.controller.com/listings/air ... ERLIN+IIIB

MU2 Solitaire unless you’ve got a big family, then a Merlin IIIA-10.