yo im new around here so first of saying hi, second off i currently work for a company out for fort worth flying a pa-31p-350 mojave.....its not a bad ride but this thing is a maintence hog piper only made like 50 of these things for one year so finding parts is a B*$^#...its always down and we miss trips constantly.....im working on the bossman right now to upgrade to a cheyenne, but hes afraid the operating costs of turbines will be too much, he previously owned a king air so he knows a bit about turbine ownership.....my question is how much more are we talking in operating costs and how should i go about this proposal??

Contact me, I have operated Cheyennes extensively. An engineer retired from Piper Lock Haven told me that they called the Mojave by the surname of "NoHave".....No Have any performance. Of all the models, the Cheyenne I is the best airplane from a cost standopoint to operate. Cub pilot

well from what ive been able to tell the best bang for the buck is to stick it out on the initial purchase price a bit and get the 3, its big and decently fast.....and your only talking about 100-200K difference between the 1A 2 and 3 fuel consumption is obviously going to be higher but you make up for that with speed......as far as the Slojave goes, i pray i never lose an engine after rotation on a hot day at max weight because theres no climbing with that thing...its anemic

Ha - I used to fly a Mojave. Can't be that many of us around. It was a nice comfy airplane with all the toys, but what a slug of a performer. I was also deathly afraid of an engine failure. We also had PA31-350 Navajos and I had to convince dispatch more than once to swap trips on the airplanes because they were trying to get the Mojave to do something it couldn't comfortably do, like short runway, hot day, with obstacles, with 5 pax.

I'd stay away from the PA-42 (chey 3). They didn't make many III or IIIA's. Parts are hard to find, there are very few STC's (no freon air, just an ACM, ie it's HOT in the summer), and the useful load on a III is pretty limited if you put fuel on. The 3's w&b is interesting as it it VERY aft heavy and often times you'll have the door hit the ground if you've got some luggage and two people near the back, and no one in the front.

There are also some mods for the I & II to put bigger engines and you'd have a real hot rod.

Personally, I like the ramp "Authority" a 4LS has with those mighty props just looking for something to chop up.

But on the issue at hand, my company was looking at the Dash-10 powered Conquest II's. Almost bought it, but a person approached my boss for a partnership in something else, and we dropped interest. Still wish we would've gotten one, but our other option is much nicer too

those -10's make for a fast mutha but it definatley sucks when your paying for hot section inspections

All very true. Currently flying a III and it works well with 4 people, but add a 5th and the CG does get interesting, 6th and you definately need that person in the front. My problem is we have a freon air conditioner that was installed and the compressor and other componets are in the nose baggage compartment rendering it useless for baggage to offset the aft cargo area.

The III is expensive to operate...burns 600(high alt)-800(low alt) pph. We are currently using Cheyenne Air Service in Washington, PA for event inspections and each is running around 15-20K. It doesnt need much between inspections so that puts mx and parts at $150-$200 per hour. I fly the plane 3.5-4 hours to visit the C.A.S. shop and find it well worth it, they know their stuff concerning the Cheyenne family.

If you are considering a plane of this size and speed (6-8 pax, 270 kts) look hard at the KingAir B200. A whole lot more to choose from and my understanding is CG is rarely a problem.

weve had kingairs before, great plane, and the b200 would be perfect, but unfortunatley the damn things never lose their value....the initial aquisiton cost is just too high.....1.5mil for a plane made in the mid 70's?? its crazy...........i know of one charter operation outa philly that runs cheyenne 3's and all they do is praise them, but that is alot of jet a to be burning!

Who installed the freon a/c? I looked for a real A/c unit but was never able to find one when I was flying a III. Is Craig still up at CAS?