B200 or B350??

[Foya]

Greeting!! I would like to get info on 2 issue

1) Which of the 2 king Airs will be better for a private operation of up to 850 -1000 nm taking into account the operation cost also??

2) Whats the standard salary for a PIC on the B200 and a PIC on a B350??

[LGW Vulture]

Neither. The Avanti II is your answer.:E

[deefer dog]

I guess it would depend on a lot of other factors. Avanti might do the job, but what surface are you landing on? King Air is great for grass, plus a LOT sturdier and better short field performance. How many airplanes have Avanti sold? How many 200's, 300's and 350's are there out there? 200 times more at least...that tells you something!

[silverknapper]

Need more specifics:
How many pax typically?
Field length and surface?
In your region are there a surplus of typed guys on one or the other?
What budget, ie 200GT, 200,250, 300,350 etc.

Salary wise it varies greatly. Have seen £35k for AOC work up to £85k for some private owners. no difference in pay between the types.

[leondelfierro]

750NM trip 2:40 average + 150nm Ferry 0:50 B200GT would do it every day, and we depart/arrive in a High elev rwy...
CRZ burn its around 600pph total in the lower 30's Sweet spot is FL300-FL320
Owner very happy for 2 years now, doesn't eve think in a Jet (yet:E)

[Pace]

Deefer

How many airplanes have Avanti sold? How many 200's, 300's and 350's are there out there? 200 times more at least...that tells you something!

It tells me that the KingAirs have been out there for 100 years :) ok not quite that much but they have been going for a long long time literally unchanged!
Not cheap to run and slow.

The selling point is the rough short field capability more important in the outbacks of Africa not so in Europe.

For the same money you could run a jet at faster speeds but the ergonomic disaster of a machine still commands sales in a very out of date airframe.
So they must do something right?

Pace

[His dudeness]

So they must do something right?

Exactly. The KingAir is RIGHT.

850 -1000 nm

At these ranges with more than 2 -3 Pax it is 350 Country. (if don´t wanna overload the mighty KA200)

For a real answer - as said before - we´d need more facts.

[Foya]

Thanks guys for the info so far....

The operation is suppose to be mostly trips to about 150-450 nm with up to 8 pax. But then the occasional trips of 950 nm. I've run the performance for both aircrafts and each has there strength.

so for the final proposal I would like to get reviews from guys that have operated them,more knowledge is always better when goin for such meetings.

[expatflyer]

If you are looking at new aircraft take a look at the spec of the new King Air B250 it's a B200GT with Raisbeck Ram Air Recovery, composite props and winglets, that aircraft loves FL300 & above for fuel burn and it is now a 300kt aircraft with long range.
If you are looking at used a B300 is hard to beat, fill it with fuel and pax and away you go...

[flyingfemme]

You don't say where you are operating.....in Europe a 350 puts you into ETS country. More expense and overhead that a 200 doesn't incur.

[silverknapper]

Dudeness

Think you're 2-3 pax at 1000nm may be pessimistic.

From the 250 POH. Full main tanks gives a range of 1160nm at F350 TAS of 289 kts. Even F300 gives 1000nm at Tas of 298. This includes 45 min reserve, at normal cruise for the en route and max range for the divert.
Full mains on a 250 generally allows 6 pax with (very!) light baggage, then obviously a trade off begins.
Agreed though the 350 is an awesome machine. Full fuel/full pax and go. However at a cost premium. Also in a lot of regions there are less drivers about for the 300 than 200 series. Also there is Femmes point to consider.

Interested to know how the King Air is an ergonomic disaster pace? Appreciate you expanding on this. Generally people I have seen purchase them for the very large cabin, decent DOC's and proven reliability. Not to mention the short field performance.

[His dudeness]

hmmm, the TO asked about the B200 vs. 350.

The B200 I mainly flew was quite heavy and not RVSM approved. So for a 1000nauticals plus 10% contingency plus alternate plus HOLD you'd require more than the outers. At 212 lbs we could have one pax plus luggage and 2 crew with full tanks (1994 B200 with Collins EFIS and Raisbeck)

The first B200 I flew was a tad lighter, we could take 3 Pax at full fuel.

The inners hold 1060lbs so 6 pax with outers only means...1 pax at full fuel.

For the B200 I used 800 lbs first hour, 600 every other. So at 2590 lbs you`d have 4 hours -> roughly 1100 nm without any reserves and no wind.

10% is 260 lbs, ALTN, say 300lbs and 45 min HOLD at 300 lbs -> 860lbs.

1060-860 = 200 = 1 Pax give or take. Lets say the third and forth hour FF is only 500lbs/hr, that would give you Pax 3 then....

Before RVSM we sometimes climbed up to 330... FF dropped significantly, but so did the speed. We found the best compromise to be round FL300.

If you´d like to have your pax at 8000ft plus cabin alt is another question - > and one of the real weak spots of the KingAirs IMO. If you do more than 2-3 hours a day you really feel the difference to lower cabin alts in jets.

[hingey]

Hi everyone,

My employers have asked a similar question to the TO, as they are currently operating a 90 and considering a future upgrade. Im struggling to find some useful numbers on how much a 350 costs to run, taking into account ETS etc... anyone?

Thanks,

h