Have a friend who just bought a late model Cirrus. I was curious why they didn't consider a Cessna 310 since they fly across Lake Michigan a lot. Evan some other twin Beech aircraft would be a better choice for this type of flying. I looked on the Controller and it is hard to pay over 150K for a good 310. Not too familiar with the 310's. What am I missing?

Maintenance? Fuel? Avionics? Comfort?

Is it a turbo? If so, he can get high pretty quick? Seems like 11k feet or so gets you pretty close to gliding distance, but it's been a while since I looked at that.

I love the looks of a 310, but those would be my thoughts. Of course, I'm biased. And for me, I feel safer in the Cirrus for all times not over a Great Lake.

Short answer - it's individual preference. I can't understand why you don't understand. You can't understand why I don't see your logic.

My biggest fear of a 3-400 series Cessna is the average TT of the fleet is much higher than the Beeches because the Cessnas were cheaper, hauled more and spent a bazillion hours in -135 service. There are some really high time worn out twin Cessnas flying around in the dark and the potential for a draconian AD is much greater in that fleet than in the Beech Fleet.

Further the Textron folks would just as soon all of our light twins were scrapped.... But IMHO they will have more success killing the Twin Cessnas than the Beeches because of the combination of durability and number of extremely high time airplanes out there....

FWIW I flew a C-402 with something like 27,000 hours. Once. Talk about a loose airplane..... The doors would barely latch...

Interesting thread. I am looking at either a B55 or a 310 as my next "project" plane - i.e. a plane I fly for a few years and do all sorts of upgrades to with no hopes of ever recouping the costs... :-)

What I don't understand is why anyone would choose a 310 over a Twin Bonanza. Or really why anyone would choose a Baron over a Twin Bonanza. But different strokes, I guess.

Well for one reason is that they won't fit in a regular hangar. That's what turned me to the 58.

Matt, that is the best (and only imho) argument against a Tbone.

This is a valid question: how much TTAF is too much? I've seen some charter twins for sale that had very high TTAF. Then again they were constantly flown, often have good deice or anti-ice. Most have middling avionics at best. Many have run out engines.

They were maintained pt 135, but is it too "old" to buy.

310s are also faster and more efficient. TBone is big and bad, but you pay for it.

good points to a 310:

Cheap
Sexy looking
Decent performance
Twin redundancy

Bad points:

Cabin a bit cramped - little / no aisle
Twin costs and mx
Known ice limitations (specific years have limitations)
Somewhat limited baggage areas, compared to other twins

Is the fact that there are a total of 201 Barons and C-310s listed on Controller right now and not a single Tbone listed a good reason?

Suggesting that someone buy a Tbone rather than anything else at all when there might be 3 for sale at any one time in the entire country and to find out about those 3 you have to talk to someone in the secret society who's "in the know" is laughable.

310s are also faster and more efficient. TBone is big and bad, but you pay for it.

Is the fact that there are a total of 201 Barons and C-310s listed on Controller right now and not a single Tbone listed a good reason?

Suggesting that someone buy a Tbone rather than anything else at all when there might be 3 for sale at any one time in the entire country and to find out about those 3 you have to talk to someone in the secret society who's "in the know" is laughable.

Thanks for your comments since I know very little about a 310 even thought my first corporate job was flying a Cessna 421 and have about 2400 hours in that Cessna product.

I just thought it would make sense to buy a good 310 and drop another 150K in it and one could still be below 225k. That Cirrus went way north of 600K.

I'm not sure when they quit making the 310, but you are right many have a lot of time on them.

BTW I wasn't trying to push Cessna's over Beech products. I own a F33A and it is the apple of my life.

Good discussion.

Is the fact that there are a total of 201 Barons and C-310s listed on Controller right now and not a single Tbone listed a good reason?

Suggesting that someone buy a Tbone rather than anything else at all when there might be 3 for sale at any one time in the entire country and to find out about those 3 you have to talk to someone in the secret society who's "in the know" is laughable.