trafly

The Sierra upgrade makes a lot of sense if you already own the airframe, it's paid for, and your maintenance folks have your airplane in good working order.

For an owner/operator who has put time and money into their older airframe, and developed an emotional attachment and trust for it, these upgrades are the best of both worlds.

USN(Ret)

There's something about flying around at Mmo @FL430, in a 30 year old airplane that's spent most of it's life doing .60 @FL350, that bothers me. Visions of Payne Stewart dance in my head. Yeah. I know it was a Lear 35, and not a Citation, but still.

conquestdz

Skip the Sierra 550 and just get an Ultra. It will have more range, more seats, more payload, glass cockpit, thrust reversers, younger airframe, and you can use the cost savings to buy the little bit of extra gas.

Scooter74

I would love the ultra or even the encore, but the buyer doesn't want to pay the hourly operating costs they have.

I agree, 1m would buy a lot of gas but not everyone thinks logically when it comes to this stuff.

I really just want a job with a good pay check attached to it. If he wants to get a C172 but pay me like a citation pilot i would be great with that too!

conquestdz

What about a Bravo?

Scooter74

Bravo is in the same boat as the CJ2/3, it is not capable of taking a lot of weight.

That is the beauty of the II airframe. With the New Flight/Branson GW mod, the plane becomes a real beast. Take the other big complaint (speed) to Sierra and now you have a plane that can carry full fuel and 5+ people (depending on airframe empty weight) over 1500NM with reserves.

The draw back, of course being that the airframe will be dated. I am working on that issue now. If the potential buyer has no real intention of selling it, then there is really no loss. With 4000hr TBO's that is a long time under normal useage.

I am trying to get what the longer term plans are so that I can make a suggestion that will best suit his needs.

BoilerUP

The Bravo's MTOW is 300lb higher than Branson/NewFlight modded IIs.

We operated s/n 0476 (1983 model) which was not modded (the gross weight mod makes your airplane a bastard child to Mother Cessna) and its BOW was so high we couldn't even top the tanks on a ferry flight!

Also, beware anybody buying a 25+ year old airframe that says they have no intention of selling it...that sounds great until unscheduled maintenance starts chipping into the budget. Our II started eating us alive with fuel panel & tank seam leaks, copilot gyro issues, broken parts internal to the airplane as old as the plane itself, etc. Combine a few expensive inspections due to structural cracks and viola, that airplane ain't quite so inexpensive to own & operate anymore.

Pay now or pay later, nothing is free or even "cheap".

Of course, some planes are worse than others...despite a manager's best efforts.

Don't take this to be a knock on Citation IIs, the Newflight mod or the Super II program...but if you are the prospective aircraft manager you need to look out for your owner's interests, especially if they've never owned jets and double-especially if they've never owned older jets.