Cessna 421
 

Has anyone flown/used a Cessna 421 airplane. I'm interested in its reliability, operating costs, maintenance issues. How do the passengers like them? How do you like them from a pilots point of view.

421
 

I flew a 421 C, a 1980 model with the trailing link landing gear.

HITS:
Passengers: Passengers loved it. The props turned at a quiet 1800 RPM in cruise. Combined with the pressurized cabin, it was very quiet. Cessna's "wide oval cabin" design made for a lot of room in the club seating.
The long nose baggage area was spacious.

Pilots: The 421 is a great "fingertip" airplane that is a joy to hand fly. I did part 135 checkrides in the airplane, and manuvers such as steep turns were a snap. The trailing link gear is great. The big rudder is great in a crosswind. The cockpit is wide and comfortable, the panel well laid out. The airplane I flew even had factory lumbar supports in the seats. Good instrument airplane.

Performance: The 421 is pretty quick. TAS ranged from 200 kts at 10,000 to 220 in the high teens. I planned a fuel burn of 50 GPH using 75 degrees rich of peak.

CONCERNS:

Payload: The 421 can be CG sensitive. I sometimes carried a 50 pound bag of sand in the nose if I was flying single pilot with two people in the back and no baggage. While the 421 has 6 seats in the back, many people have removed the most rear forward facing one. Even if you load that many people in the airplane and keep it in CG, you are not going far. It also gets crowded back there. I think the 4 seat club filled with adults is enough. Passengers may try to fill up the cabin, but you cant let them most of the time. A lot of 421s have gained weight since new also. The book's performance numbers start at 5600lbs gross. My airplane weighed 5400 empty.

Maintenance: I once saw a tv show about a zoo, where the comment was made that the Golden Eagle cost more to keep than any other bird they had. I laughed at the the well suited name Cessna had given the 421. The airplane does cost a lot to maintain.

Don't skip any maintenance. It is pay now or pay later--pay a lot later. The airplane is known for the engines.


Operating: Take care of those engines. We kept them warm (no shock cool), and had relatively good luck. We took a set of GTISOs to TBO and only replaced two cylinders along the way. Plan a descent into the trip. On a 200NM trip (one hour), I seldom went above 10000 MSL here in the east.
While the 421 has 375 hp per side. It is not a rocket ship on one engine at all. Always keep that in mind if you need climb performance out of an airport.

I never had to go to sim training for the 421, but a lot of people are required to. SimCom in Orlando has a 421 program that I hear is good. I also heard that Flight Safety Cessna in Wichita has a good 400 series school.

The airplane flys great, and makes a good impression to passengers. It is not a load hauling beast, and OEI performance is critical. It can be a very expensive airplane to maintain.

We operated one for three years and I agree with the above post.
I will add this:
Passengers loved it.
It did fly well with two or three pax and 1/2 load of fuel. At gross it was a PIG. On a hot day, at gross, 600 fpm is all both those engines will give. VERY under powered.
When we got it two different older pilots, with 421 experience, ask if we could make 3 trips without maintenance. I said not yet. They both said you never will. They were right.

These two websites have some good information on twin Cessna's

Jerry Temple Aviation

The Twin Cessna Flyer

B model and the C models with trailing link gear are a pleasure to fly and land. Straight leg C models can be a pain to make a good landing. Fuel management in the C's easy. Gotta keep track in the B's. In general, plan a 700fpm climb to keep the engines fairly cool (about 30" and 1900 RPM). Plan your descents. The GTSIO-520's need TLC all the time. As stated before, can be very CG sensitive, especially on a long flight with full passengers as CG moves back as fuel burns off. Still one of my favorite planes. Just glad I don't have to pay for the maintenance!

Cannot disagree with a word you said.

Just to stress:

1. They are a joy to fly. Quiet too due to the geared engines.

2. Do not discount the earlier "B" models, as those tips tanks are like huge winglets, although the fuel system on them is one only the engineer who designed it could love, especially if you have the nacelle tanks too.

3. Yes, you can get the engines to TBO, but not if you want to fly at max "book" figures. If you can deal with 190 kts or so in the mid teens or so you'll be fine. However, if you push them at FL250 all the time watch out.

4. Fuel burn is a minimum of 40 GPH on the B model.

Figure $400-500 per hour to operate one these days.

Keep in mind that if they built them new today that they would be probably a $2 million+ plane.

Hey Lou, still working on Flight Simulator stuff?

anyways,

I found this video with good information on the aircraft. Mind you, its of a particular airplane but its still useful info.
421025V 1974 Cessna 421B

I flight plan the 421 generally at 205 kts. Upper teens to low 20's. Anything above that you're pushing it. My boss, who at 83 still actively flies the 421, among other aircraft, has 20,000 hrs in the 421. He probably knows more about the airplane than anyone else in the country. He can get that fuel burn down around 38gph, carefully. Safe to flight plan at 40gph, 50gph to be conservative.

I have heard some 421 operators who used to fair well with the engines have had trouble with newer overhauled GTSIOs. Anyone here know anything.

The B model is more than a pig on one engine, it is nearly suicidal!