What do folks think of the Conquest I? Did any of you king air operators considering the Cessna, if so what made you go to the KA?

I can put you in touch with a customer / friend that operates a Conquest 1.
He loves it. Except for the HUGE amount of money just spent on the "SID".

SID, an A.D. with an attitude.

Was this the spar?

I think it is more than that. They remove the interior, panel, engines, tail, everything.
Very invasive.

He could answer more accurately, but I saw the pictures.

TJ

There was a requirement that the 445's had to be pretty much disassembled and rebuilt every so often but I thought that got lifted last summer. One of the shops at my home base was doing one after another and each one took 30-60 days.

Its more of an 'airframe major overhaul'. Like the Robinson Helos.

Here's a good article on the SID.
http://www.flyingmag.com/turbine/1365/yingling-aviation-conquest-experts.html?print_page=y

Interesting article, Charles. 940 hrs just for the inspection....wow. It adds to the evidence I can't afford to run a turboprop....

$200,000 every 5000 flight hours (+/- $40/flight-hr) for the SID doesn't seem so onerous but if you only fly 100 hours per year and hit the 10 yr limit in 1000 hours that comes out to more like $200/hr. And that's on top of all the "normal" operating costs like hot section inspections, engine overhauls, fuel etc). I wonder when Beech is going to implement something similar on the King Airs?

For those who are considering turboprop ownership, I'd highly recommend reading Dr. Dick Karl's articles in flying magazine. While he is someone who can afford to own the plane he flies (the Cheyenne), he writes in a manner which brings to earth the absolute costs of turboprop ownership. The issue that just arrived in my mailbox this week (January) talks about how his engines are coming up for overhaul next year, at costs ranging from several hundred thousand to upwards of a million dollars. Very much worth reading.

I'm suprised that this is mandatory on privately flown part91 planes. They must be really scared.

It is not mandatory; the shops that do them try to scare folks in to it, though.

Having done the SIDs inspection on a number of aircraft, 310, 402A, B & C, and two 404s, I have to say that doing the complete inspection in one hit is a nasty shock from a monetary viewpoint, but on the aircraft I've done to date, the nastier shock was the condition of some of those areas requiring to be inspected under the SIDs Program.

I've not done a 441 or 425 yet, but have spoken to those that have. Again, what you find can be very scary. The 441 I would assume is based on the same principle as the 310/402/404, that being that you don't actually redo the inspection every 10 years or 5000 hours, but it is a progressive inspection and the pain can be spread over the period allotted.