There are times I definitely miss my 400 series. For one, dropping the air stair door on the ramp instead of climbing over a wing. My mission changed 180 degrees of yours though and I have not looked back.

Enjoy it! Looks like a sweet bird.

Beautiful and totally understandable.
If only they made new ones, would they sell?

Wow! What a great airplane

Congrats Jesse! Did you get a chance to try the full motion sim at simcom? I went there for it but it was out of order while I was there. The FTD was good but I was hoping for the motion.

What are you figuring for performance to get 1380 pounds of payload 800 nm? I can't get close to that but I'm running ROP and have a useful load slightly below 2200 pounds. I get about 215 true at FL200 burning 43g/hour.

It has about 300lbs more payload (fuel) and is about 10 kts faster on that FF. My partner has an '82 and it does about what yours does (our maybe a little less). When it was painted, high build was used to make it slick. I have always prefered 65% and lower FFs, especially on a long flight in the Baron. I'll get some real life numbers soon and post.

Spencer, SimCom bought their full motion sim from Flight Safety and put it in Texas. I quit going to FS to use it because it was always broken. The sim in AZ is better and always works. I usually fly in the mid teen's at 205kts and 36GPH. Higher and faster works for long trips if you have a tail wind or need to get over the weather otherwise it's not worth the fuel to climb up there. The 76 thru 79 421C's weigh 100lbs less than your plane because of the trailing link gear.

Sweet! Congrats looks great.

Sure, if they hung a single PT6 on the nose.

thread derailment>

speaking of that, what became of the 340(? i think it was a 340) converted to a single PT6 and displayed at Oshkosh 8-10yrs ago?

Clinet of mine has pretty good success flying his 421B at 31 GPH.

I'm ordering Gamis today after I get the correct FI numbers. My current engine monitor setup is too inconvenient for LOP ops, but I still want to balance the FFs ROP.

I'm amazed how cool running these engines are. 300-320 CHT in the climb after departing 115 OAT airport. They are almost too cool.

Jesse,
Curious, did you think about a Conquest? I'm finding myself in the same situation as you (the P isn't always big enough) and the Conquest keeps coming up as a possibility.

Jesse, I was amazed at how cool the CHTs were when I started flying mine as well. The highest I've ever seen has been 350 and I climbed a couple of times to FL200 while it was 100 degrees this summer.

John,

I did, however, it doesn't fit my mission right now. Many trips require me down low under weather built to 40,000+. I can't be stuck in the 20s.

Jesse,

Sorry for all the questions here, but since you did this I've been thinking about it too..

How does the 421 noise level compare to the P? Also, have you heard any comparisons from your passengers (folks who have now flown in both)? What is the service ceiling and cabin differential pressure of a 421? How about short field performance compared to the P?

I don't have much single pilot experience in cabin class airplanes but one thing I remember was that passenger management workload went up (moving from a baron to a KA in this case). Pax are more-or-less stuck in their seat in a baron but in a bigger plane they can move around. Its was mostly just trimming to deal with it but also some work to get them buckled up & such for turb & landing and/or the occasional chatty person who wanted to come up front - or just questions like "where's the beer?". Most of this was not a big deal, sometimes it was fun but on occasion it added to an already busy workload. I'd be interested in hearing your stories!

Congrats & thanks for the info!