C90 or Cheyenne

[crazynut52]

Currently I have about 1700 hours with only about 130 multi. A local busness owner is thinking of getting either a C90 or Cheyenne. What kind of transistion am I looking at to be safe, or is this even reasonable to think about? With 100 hrs with a mentor pilot, would I be qualified to fly a turboprop such as this? How about insurance? Tell me your thoughts.

[gomntwins]

I was a single-pilot captain of a Metroliner at 1600TT... 500 multi. What helped make me feel safe and ready was knowing I had to go through formal training to get the type-- I also went through company training where I wasn't considered a customer (you pay a lot of places to get the type, you're the customer, and unless you are absolutely horrible you will get the type- not the case at a lot of companies). First off, I'd say your total time isn't an issue for flying a turboprop, nor is multi time-- what would make you safe or unsafe will have more to do with what type of traning you'll go through (flight safety, company training, or- here's the POH, we'lll see what happens)-- the more formal and professional the better chance you'll have. Neither aircraft listed requires formal training, but make sure you get it. Also, tt doesn't necessarily mean having a lot of experience. I had flown single pilot through a lot of bad weather, seen a lot of things, and although the learning curve was still steap-- I had a good foundation to work with. It does depend on what type of experiences you have as to how safe/comfortable transition you'll have into turbine equipment (ex. been dropping jump pilots out of the same airport daily for the last 1000 hours?? you'll definitely be a good stick-- but your weather flying might not be the best-)

[SDLpilot]

Go with a C90 the parts for the Cheyenne are starting to get hard to find. The C90 is easy to fly too. If you can fly a twin you will not have any problem moving to the C90/Cheyenne. I would say too is to get formal training from Flight safety etc. Plus the insurance co. will want to see it. I think Flight Safety has a turbine transistion class you could take too.

[crazynut52]

Thanks for the replies. As of now, it looks like the owner is leaning towards a Cheyenne. Not sure what variant yet, but I will enjoy none the less. How many hours did you gentlemen/ladies have when you started building PIC turbine time?

[ricecakecm]

Originally Posted by crazynut52

Thanks for the replies. As of now, it looks like the owner is leaning towards a Cheyenne. Not sure what variant yet, but I will enjoy none the less. How many hours did you gentlemen/ladies have when you started building PIC turbine time?

I had about 1600 hours, mostly flight instructing, when I started flying a PC-12 single pilot. Now I'm flying King Airs...got hired for this job with about 2700/200 multi.

[30West]

Depends on what models your talking about. You cant compare the A-90 King Air to a 400LS Cheyenne. Pretty much all the King Airs are cake to fly. Cheyennes I hear arent too bad either. I would go with the Piper just cause in most cases its faster. Either way just as long as you keep your eyes peeled either plane shouldnt be too much work for you.