From Rebecca B. MacPherson, Assistant Chief Counsel for Regulations, FAA, AGC-200:

To the extent that an owner or operator has already selected and identified in the aircraft maintenance records a "current inspection program recommended by the manufacturer," or has selected and identified "any other inspection program ... [that has been] approved by the Administrator ... ," a SID issued by the manufacturer after the date of selection and identification in the aircraft maintenance records of the then current program would not be mandatory unless the FAA had mandated the SID requirements by issuing an Airworthiness Directive (AD) or through another rulemaking adopted through notice and comment procedures required by the Administrative Procedure Act (AP A); or, in the case of an approved inspection program selected under § 91.409(£)(4), the Administrator required the revision in accordance with the provisions of § 91.415.

I can't make that language say a NEW owner may use the program the PREVIOUS owner selected.

I want it the way you think it is, but I don't think the FAA thinks that way, and they wrote a piece saying that:

"If each subsequent owner could choose inspection instructions (an inspection program) from the date the airplane was delivered, that inspection program would no longer be current for the subsequent owner had it been revised in the interim."

"The new owner would have to select the most current program at the time of purchase. The new owner may not use the program that had been selected by the previous owner."

http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/hea ... tation.pdf

The above also from Rebecca B. MacPherson.

Good luck!

Mike C.

I have re-read this thread and read everything I can find on the web about the SID, but I haven't found the SID document. I assume this failure is due to my incompetence.

Does anybody have the actual SID and the inspection requirements following compliance with the initial inspection?

No, it isn't, they are not made public.


A mechanic can get it as part of their maintenance document subscription.

Mike C.

It should be in the latest version of the 425 mainteance manual. Cessna has a copyright on that and cannot be posted. You can buy it from Cessna Publications.

I have a spreadsheet with all the phases and I've tried to roughly (very roughly) estimate the cost for each one. Also you can look at the maintenance tracker for any 425 and it will have the compliance time (in hours, cycles, or calendar time) for all the phases. I have the Cessna MX manual too and I;d be happy to look something up for you but they are copyrighted so I don't want to post it. If you want the spreadsheet PM me. Note that some phases are in cycles and calendar time. After the initial SID was c/w you can choose between cycles or calendar. Most airplanes flying 100 - 200 hours/year will obviously choose cycles.

Do we have any updates on this thread? I am trying to educate myself on 425 and 441 Inspection requirements.

They are different between the airplanes. Are you asking if they are required or what they are or what they cost?

Since I'm the original poster of the thread, I'll tell you my experience after six+ years of ownership.

The jist of it is, there are no SID police. Once you buy the airplane, you can pretty much do whatever you want. However, the chickens all come home to roost the day you try to sell it. If you want to sell it in the U.S. and get top-dollar for it, then you might as well do all the inspections as set forth in the maintenance manual and supplementary inspection document. If not, you either won't sell the airplane or the value will be greatly reduced.

For me and my Conquest, I follow Cessna's Corrosion Prevention and Control Program (CPCP) which moves all the inspections from calendar to hourly. This makes the SID more liveable.

Here is how I see it: Turbine airplanes manufactured today all basically have planned "big" inspections laid out in the maintenance manual. Things like wing and tail removal, gear overhauls, engine mount inspections - all required every so many thousand hours or so many years. So what Cessna did was go back and create these "big" inspections for these older airplanes so they are treated like current airplanes.

In my opinion, this is not a bad thing as it keeps the airplanes relevant and helps maintain their value.

I just went through Phases 31 and 32 at West Star in Grand Junction. I had to have the engines removed for engine mount inspection along with tail removal. Was it expensive? Yes. Did it suck? Yes. However, I fly my family and employees in this thing. Knowing I have a solid airplane gives me peace of mind. And that has value.

For what it is worth, I bought my Blackhawk 425 in 2017 and had West Star finish the mandatory SIDS. It cost about $140k.

Since then inspections take about two weeks each year and have not been expensive.

By far, the 425 is the best all around airplane I have ever owned including a TBM, a Citation Mustang, a C525, another twin Cessna and of course a Baron. Also I will note that maintenance on the French TBM far out costed that of the 425 post initial SID costs.

I have never had any parts availability issues and after five years there was one cancellation due to a broken wire pin connector that took some time to trace out.

The reason there are not many 425s on the market is because owners love them and can’t seem to think of anything better for their mission.

Here are the 441 inspections, West Star sent this to us. I don't know yet on cost for all of them, but it sure provides peace of mind on a 40 year old airplane. I know first hand when things get past the 40 year mark they start to break!!

I think the 425 fits nicely between the TBM and KA200/PC12 in terms of the cabin size. It will take 8 in a pinch and 6 very comfortably which the TBM can't really do. 300 knots with the -135's on 500 PPH. If Cessna built them new with -135's, garmin panel and AP and sold them for $3.5M would people buy them? Seems like they could sell 100/yr but what do I know.

300 kts only happens when it is cold and at FL240. However the C425 is consistent between 285 to 295Kts TAS. These numbers are just slightly faster than my previous TBM700B.

I had considered a PC12 but the fact that maintenance must be done at a Pilatus maintenance center was a big turn off as well as one engine and the slow speed of the PC12.

Considering a new and much smaller TBM is $4.5M+, I would think they'd need to be well over $5M to have any hope of making a profit.

That's about what the Denali costs, which has similar performance and a far larger cabin. The Denali is the new 425/441 replacement.

Thanks guys! I am now flying and managing both a 425 and 441, and trying to get up to speed on what all is required as far as both the SID's and normal inspections.
Our 425 is not a Blackhawk, so I normally see 260KTAS on about 480#/hr and 24,000'.
The 441 is consistently 290-300KTAS on the same fuel burn at 28,000' since it is non RVSM.
They are both fantastic planes, but I have to say I am very partial to the 441. That thing is a beast!