Hi All,

A professional acquaintance of mine who owns a construction company, and is sick of the airlines, is looking into purchasing an airplane and hiring a couple of pilots to fly him around the SE US to more efficiently run his business. Here is a listing of the mission parameters:

1. Pressurization; all weather; GPS WAAS equipped
2. 5-6 Passengers; on some occasions 8 (some light-medium luggage as well)
3. 1200 nm range
4. STOL, let's just shoot for 2500-3000 TOLD capability (THIS IS ONLY A PREFERENCE)
5. Purchase Cost: $300K-$550K
6. Not worried about fuel burns/ops costs; he doesn't want a fancy jet, just needs to make better use of his time in managing approximately 20 work sites in the SE (west Texas, OK, AR, TN, KY, NC, SC, etc.)

My friend does have previous owner experience, and is not a pilot himself.

Alright BT...give it your best!!!

THIS IS NOT A HYPOTHETICAL, purchase timeline is to close by the end of April. Turnkey is better.

Thanks in advance,
JHill

Edit on STOL...

Definitely a turboprop. Merlín and Marquise come to mind immediately. An old 200 or B100 might be in budget too and get the job done.

I think that runway limitation might be a problem.

A B200 king air is pretty good at short field but I don't think it is THAT good, 500K is maybe enough for a ratty one but it is the wrong plane for the budget. Seems like a Caravan is the right plane for short fields but not for 1200NM and not for 1/2 a mil.

Pilatus

Good plane but not the budget.

Jason the Pilatus was my first recommendation during our initial conversation. However, he prefers a second engine. I tried to explain to him the legendary reliability of the PT-6 to no avail!

This logic is so insane..... 8 people on a 40 year old, sub $500K piston twin = safe because it has 2 motors?

You put 8 folks on a plane like that and you're asking for trouble.

This logic is so insane..... 8 people on a 40 year old, sub $500K piston twin = safe because it has 2 motors?

You put 8 folks on a plane like that and you're asking for trouble.

Prob a 414, given the budget restraints.
PC12 still by far the best option for this mission. Just way out of their budget.

In that budget and range requirement you're looking at a Rockwell built Turbo Commander or a Cheyenne II / III

That is a pretty tight runway requirement and there's a huge difference between 2500' and 3000' may need to look at exactly where he'll be going into...

Marquise?

I think the magic runway # is 4000 Feet and even then, Alt-Temp......

An entry level turboprop is a great fit here. Really any of them.
Proper air conditioning and pressurization, better speed.

Can you get access to cheap fuel?

The insurance cost / requirements will be nearly identical from 421 to C90 / Mu / 690 / Piper etc. I would at least look at all the options.

Tj

I don't see it as likely- given the "6, sometimes 8."

anything that seats 8 adults, and costs 300k, probably would be marginally reliable to run a business on. can the 4 least-important people fly commercial?

seems like it has 414/421 written all over it, but not particularly fast. maybe mits, but thats a lot to bite off for a growing company.