Baron or caravan

[duncanidaho50]

I have the choice of flying a Beech baron 55 with twin conventional engine
or a cessna caravan single with turbine, whats best for my future CV and experience?

[nick14]

Twin piston in my opinion but I guess you will get lots of differing opinions

enjoy the Baron its a lovely aircraft:ok:

[MyNameIsIs]

Baron. You will progress onto other multi engine aircraft faster once you have a chunk of Baron time.

Don't be blinded by "But it is turbine!" with the Caravan.

Get the multi, then if you want turbine time *just* to have it, then look at a caravan.


But it is your life, assess both options and do what you feel is right for you.

[Wildpilot]

Go crazy and fly what you want to not what you think you should.

[jackcarls0n]

I have a 1000 TT on turbine similar to the Caravan. Dont matter if its turbine or not, it is a single engine still.

Id go for the Baron.

[duncanidaho50]

whaoo! I was expecting, the opposite answer, thank you for your feed back!

[duncanidaho50]

Any other opinions?

[mad_jock]

Turbines are dead easy to operate compared to the baron.

Always go for the option with the most engines (although this falls on its backside with a BAe146 then go for what ever is heaviest)

[duncanidaho50]

ok now, let say im going to be flying 300 at the most, more like 250 hours a year on the Baron, and I could fly around 900 hours/year on the Caravan

What would you choose then? thanks again for the feedback

[mad_jock]

Depends where you want to work afterwards and where the job is.

[peterporker]

Don't make your choice based on aircraft type. Make your choice based on pay, quality of life, location, etc. The Baron is a great aircraft but there are more jobs on the Caravan so some Caravan experience might be more valuable. But ultimately the most important thing is which job suits you better.

[Wildpilot]

Many many pilots fly what they feel would be best for the CV and although if your goal is not the journey but the RH seat then that is fine. The fact that you are posting on pprune to ask means you are in that category I would imagine.

Personally I agree with one of the above posters, lifestyle etc is more important. Yes the Baron does have two engines but lets be honest the Van is a much nicer machine in every way to earn a living in.

If you choose what is best to get you to the RH seat the quickest then you may feel in the long run that you have missed out. So fly what you want, I laugh at pilots who say things like "I have to much single time now".

If you want to fly the old Baron then do it, she is almost a bit of a classic now in her own right. Just don't get suckered into this BS that almost all of us fall for at sometime. You should enjoy this career as it is a long hard road and generally not that financially worth while, so the least it can give is a good journey to the top.

And remember the top does not mean an airline it means what ever you think is the top job.

Have fun

[jackcarls0n]

.....baron for me...

given the cost cutting etc...single engines dont get paid much...