Hopefully this all works out reasonably well. I sold my E-55 with intentions of getting a pressurized twin that was more "cabin class". I was looking very hard at the Duke, and joined the club/organization to learn more. I even went to the gathering of Duke owners that was recently held. I have to admit, joining the club was money well spent. I met some wonderful people, and gained a better understanding of the airplane. At the same time I was looking at Dukes, I was also looking at 340's, 414's and to a lesser degree, 421's. The Duke certainly has some very appealing attributes that make the airplane attractive to someone that wants more capability. However, it was the unusually complex systems for the size airplane, along with the long term questions around how to support the engines, and that Beech really isn't interested in supporting the airplane that drove me to choose a Cessna.

If there was an engine stc option other than the PT-6 such as a diesel, that was available today, I may have bought a Duke. The PT-6 stc is certainly impressive from a performance point of view, but from a cost vs benefit point of view, A KingAir or even and MU-2 makes better sense, in my sometimes misguided opinion.

Therefore, I migrated over to brand C and looked for a good value 340. I wasn't looking for the really big cabin of the 421/414, but wanted the speed of the 421 on 300+ mile trips. The P-Baron was not considered, as it just doesn't have much room in the cabin, and doesnt give the passengers a "bigger" airplane feel. I also wanted fiki. I really wish Beech wouldn't have made the Duke so complicated maintance wise. I will miss the beechness. I'm not suggesting that the twin C's arent complex, but at least there were nearly 1300 C340's made, and lots of maint facilities are more familiar with them, and there are still over 1000 of them in operation. Can't say that about the Duke. Under 600 of them went out the door, and about 300 still left.

I just finished a pre-buy and closed on a fiki 340 with Ram 7 engines, KFC200 AP/FD with alt. preselect, gmx-200, 430w, the rest silvercrown, airconditioned. No damage history. I'm putting in new fuel cells for piece of mind.

Wish me luck fellow BTer's!

Brent

sounds exciting!! pics better be next!

Brent:
Good luck with your new plane. Just make darn sure your mechanic knows how to perform the recurrent exhaust inspections! You might check out Cessna Pilot's Ass'n, several folks there are avid 340 owners.

RAS

hopefully I can figure out how to do that?

Thanks Richard, as a matter of fact, the pre-buy was done by the Tony Saxton, of TAS Aviation. A Twin Cessna guru.

Brent

So I read the title and think this guy is just like me Nope he had more zeros in the check book

FWIW, I would have made the same decision. Looks like a great plane. Where is the lucky new E55 driver?

Brent,

I have been debating that same move for two years now, so I can understand. All the best with your 340, they are very good planes. For me, the conclusion is that currently I fly a late model 58 (year 2000) and I really rarely fly with more than two people so the big cabin is not a major issue.

The pressurization would definitely be nice but in looking at my 200+ hours a year and an average of 50 trips/year there are no more than 2-3 that I did not do with the 58 that I would have done with a pressurized twin. And I really really love that Beech handling. It is a tough choice though.

Maybe not anymore.

Maybe not anymore.

Maybe not anymore.

That's one nice looking airplane.

340's are sexy airplanes. They should be given honorary Beech status.

Thanks for the thumbs-up Guys. It's not a Beech, but I have to agree that the 340 is a good looking airframe.

Brent