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 Post subject: Re: Any info on a Cessna 411?
PostPosted: 31 Aug 2022, 20:39 
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 Post subject: Re: Any info on a Cessna 411?
PostPosted: 07 Sep 2022, 20:54 
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I flew 411s for a bit in the early 1980s. Delightful handling - just like the rest of the 400 series. It really set the standard for the Cadillac handling of that series of twins. During my checkout I did the usual Vmc demo and noted no problems. I liked its speed but not its lack of pressurization and was very aware of the huge cost of keeping one running.

The GTSIOs were early versions with their own very expensive issues. There were a lot of little things typical of an airplane built on the cutting edge of general aviation technology that would prove to be expensive to keep alive - (never buy the first model of anything-especially in the turbocharged world where exhaust system maintenance can eat you alive - think Cessna 320). For example, the cowl flaps were the biggest I'd ever seen on anything - so they were actuated by electric motors because they couldn't be operated manually. Of course the motors cost over $1,000 back in 1981, and the airplanes could be purchased with the limits a person had on a credit card. So, when a cowl flap motor would fail, the owner would simply wire the cowl flap open rather than shell out for a motor. However, in the event that engine crapped out, the airplane would not hold altitude with the prop feathered because of the drag of the cowl flap.

I was peripherally involved in the accident in which the pilot (a good friend) doing a series of single-engine demos for lawsuit against Cessna slid a 411 to a stop in a field on what was something like the 20th or 21st demo of an engine failure as the gear hit the wells after takeoff for a lawsuit against Cessna. On all of the previous takeoffs at gross weight the pilot caged an engine, waited the prescribed three seconds, then went through the shutdown, feather and close cowl flap routine - and climbed out. He then restarted the engine and landed - and then did it again and again for the camera. On the last one he didn't pull the prop control around the detent and didn't realize his mistake until the feathering locks were in and the prop wouldn't feather. As expected, the airplane wouldn't hold altitude. At full power on the good engine, he aimed for a field, sucked the airplane over a set of power lines - getting below Vmc in the process - kept it going straight and landed gear up in a field. He was unhurt, but the airplane had the usual damage from a gear up in a field. He had no problem with directional control - which was the essence of the lawsuit.

Having flown all of the 400-series Cessnas, if I were in the market for an unpressurized twin (good gawd, man, if you're spending that much money, buy pressurization!), I'd stay away from the 335 (way too heavy, with a lousy useful load - no wonder it didn't sell) and the 411 unless you've got access to a lot of spares - notably exhaust system components - and have the desire to do a lot of maintenance on old systems, and look hard at the 401/402 as they are great load haulers (watch the aft c.g. challenges) and the 404 (one of the greatest freighters ever built, IMHO).


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 Post subject: Re: Any info on a Cessna 411?
PostPosted: 08 Sep 2022, 08:57 
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Thanks for that Rick, especially the clarity on the "test pilot crashed it" legend.

I suppose that would have been video recorded from multiple view points?


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 Post subject: Re: Any info on a Cessna 411?
PostPosted: 08 Sep 2022, 10:47 
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Ed,

I recall seeing a video taken from a camera mounted on the vertical stabilizer, looking forward. I don't recall if there were other cameras. It happened more than 40 years ago (1979, I believe).


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