Turbine Pilot

You might think you're ready when...

On the past few flights in your twin, grinding your way back home in the night, you've gotten a bad case of the wants for a new turboprop, maybe even one of those small jets they're coming out with. A little voice inside your head says, "Hey, you've done pretty well for yourself; you deserve it! Besides, it goes faster and you'll save time!" You find yourself agreeing with this little voice. Despite what the markets are doing right now, your business and investments have done great. Nice home, great car. You can afford it right? But another voice on the other side of your head pipes up. "How can you think like that? It's way more expensive! Need I remind you that business is doing well because you've listened to me and made sound, rational decisions?"

Does it make sense to upgrade? How do you know when it's time? How do you go about upgrading? What are your options? Can you handle it?

The benefits

The benefits of flying a turboprop or light jet are straightforward: faster cruising speeds, longer range, higher cruising altitudes, and more cabin room and comfort. Your existing trips can be flown in less time. You can fly to destinations farther away. You can get above a lot of the en route weather and low-level turbulence. And you typically get more cabin room with a private lavatory for personal comfort.

Another strong attribute of any turbine is the inherent reliability of a jet engine. Basically, parts that spin 'round and 'round and around are going to give you less trouble than those that bang up and down. For you, this means enhanced safety and greater dependability.

The signs

Similar to the redneck jokes, but from a serious point of view, you know you might need a turbine when:

• You and your employees are taking more and more trips on the airlines.
• You're regularly flying three-, four-, or even five-hour legs in your existing piston airplane.
• You scrub a lot of flights because of en route weather.
• You're tired of getting beaten up by turbulence during a flight.
• Your customers need more attention.
• You want to expand the geographic market of your business, but you are reluctant to do so because of the difficulty of providing sales and customer support.
• Your key management employees are on the road too much.
• You missed out on a good sales deal in a town beyond the range of your existing airplane.
• The kids have outgrown the kiddie seats.
• You regularly miss Junior's soccer games.

If any of the above seem to apply to you, read on.

The steps

There is no holy grail and it's not rocket science to determine whether to up- grade from any level of airplane to the next. It takes doing your homework and making what can be some hard decisions. It's a function of whether you need the extra speed, range, and cabin room; combined with your ability to take on the additional operating costs; offset by your ability and qualifications to fly a more advanced airplane.

Saving time has value. You already know the value of having the flexibility to come and go on your own schedule, landing at general aviation airports closer to your destination, and avoiding airline hassles, delays, and cancellations. A turbine aircraft gives you even more in all of these categories.

To find out how much more, start by getting a clear understanding of your mission profile — how you use your aircraft. Where do you go and why do you go there? Who goes with you? How often?

You might think your flight logs tell the story of your mission profile. But isn't one of the reasons you are thinking about upgrading because you've outgrown your existing airplane? How you could use a turboprop or a jet will be vastly different. Quite simply, many of the trips that you — and your employees — fly on the airlines can be accomplished on a turbine that has more room, more speed, and more range.

In addition to reviewing your existing flight logs, get a report from your travel agent detailing your and your key employees' business travel for the past two years. List out all of the city-pairs traveled. Remember to list true destinations, not the airport hub where you switched flights or the city that was the end of the line that the airline could take you to, leaving you to drive another hour and a half. There may be a general aviation airport that is more convenient. List the distances and frequency of travel for each city-pair. List the average passenger load for each trip.

Now take your business plan for the next 18 to 24 months. Where do you have to go to make that plan successful? Project out a travel plan in line with your business plan. Likewise, list the city-pairs, distances, anticipated frequency, and average passenger loads.

Armed with this information, make two spreadsheets. In the first one, list out all the city-pairs and accompanying data. Then run some time estimates simulating these trips being flown in a turboprop or jet. Using a hypothetical company based out of Milwaukee, the first spreadsheet will look something like the cost table on page 128.

Frequency means the number of one-way segments for each city-pair. Thus, a round trip from Milwaukee to Detroit equals a frequency of two. Average pax load is the average number of passengers traveling on this city-pair. Pair mileage is the mileage between the two cities. The segment mileage is the pair mileage multiplied by the frequency. Turboprop 250 kt is the elapsed time to fly that city-pair each way in a turboprop with an average speed of 250 knots. Jet 380 kt is the elapsed time to fly that city-pair each way in a light jet with an average speed of 380 knots. The utility turboprop hours/year is the elapsed time multiplied by the frequency; same for the utility jet hours/year.

The second spreadsheet lists the percentage of city-pair mileages in 250-mile segments. Using the sample information from above, it should look something like the mileage distribution table at the bottom of page 128.

This means that almost one-half of all trips in this example are less than 250 nautical miles. Another 19 percent of flights, or a cumulative total of 68 percent, are up to 500 miles. A cumulative total of 89 percent of flights are up to 750 miles.

The analysis

Enough of this data gathering and number crunching. It is time to sit back and try to make some sense out of all of this information. After years of helping clients over these hurdles, I have come up with some general guidelines to consider for a travel analysis:

• The average maximum "comfortable" flight on a regular basis is two and a half to three and a half hours. Sure you can go longer, but not for every flight, even when most turbine aircraft have a lavatory. (Unless you have another pilot with you, the lav means nothing to you.) You probably already know what your personal maximum flight time is.
• The average turboprop has a block speed of 250 knots. This means the effective average maximum range is 500 to 800 nautical miles.
• The average small jet has a block speed of 325 to 380 knots. This makes the average maximum range about 800 to 1,300 nautical miles.
• Optimally, your new aircraft will satisfy 90 to 95 percent of your travel needs. The remaining 5 to 10 percent may be satisfied by making a fuel stop, flying more than one trip to a city, or simply chartering an aircraft capable of satisfying that trip need.
• Choose an aircraft with a cabin size one and a half to two times your average passenger load factor. On shorter flights, people can tolerate being packed together, but for longer trips, they need some room to spread out. So, if you average 3.5 passengers, consider getting a six- or seven-seat cabin.
• Turboprops typically need a runway that is at least 4,000 feet in length. Most small jets need a runway with a minimum length of 4,500 to 5,000 feet.

Let's apply some of these guidelines to our hypothetical owner based in Milwaukee. To start, about one-third of the company's trips are to Chicago. This trip has an elapsed time of 30 minutes in almost any type aircraft because of the speed restrictions and short stage length. Since a turboprop can be used comfortably with trips up to 750 miles in length, this would satisfy 89 percent of their needs. How about the 8 percent of trips of 750 to 1,000 miles in length? Well, for those 14 flights each year from Milwaukee to Dallas they can either grin and bear the longer trip time of a little more than three and a half hours or consider a light jet. A light jet would satisfy 97 percent of their trip needs. As for the remaining 3 percent, or 10 flights a year from Chicago to Los Angeles, this company can find a small jet with the range capable of flying nonstop, make a fuel stop en route to Los Angeles, or charter a jet with a longer range. And since this is an airline hub city to another airline hub city, there are frequent airline flights that can satisfy this need. Their average passenger load is three persons. For this example company, a six-passenger turboprop adequately meets its needs when supplemented with an occasional charter flight.

The options

Just as there is more than one way to bet at the horse track, you do have some options as to how you meet your travel needs. There are other ways to enjoy the benefits of an upgrade to flying in a turbine. The problem is that some of these don't allow you to fly the aircraft yourself. If your total planned average annual usage is 50 flight hours or less, or the trip requirements that your current aircraft is not capable of satisfying are 50 hours or less, consider chartering a turbine to fly those specific trips. You won't be allowed to fly it yourself or be in the right-hand pilot seat. Your home base is going to be the most restrictive factor in selecting a good charter operator. Rural locations typically have fewer operators.

If your planned usage is in the 50 to 200 flight hour range, consider buying a fractional jet share or going into joint ownership on a turbine. The name-brand fractional companies won't let you fly the airplane either, but there are some smaller companies that will consider it. A jointly owned turbine is simply sharing an airplane with a partner. This can be an attractive option because it can meet all your needs, including allowing you to fly, yet allow you to split the fixed operating expenses of ownership. It is important to find a partner that has a compatible management style, a compatible flight schedule, and a commitment to paying the bills.

If your planned usage is 200 flight hours or more, then having your own "whole" airplane makes the most sense. You have total control and use of the airplane, its schedule, the maintenance, and its flight operation. The national average time flown on a turbine is 400 hours per year.

The costs

There are two aspects to cost: the purchase price and the annual operating cost. There is plenty of information available to help you determine the acquisition cost of any new or used turbine. Call the manufacturer and ask. Read the aircraft evaluation articles published in trade magazines. Look over AOPA Online. Check out the aircraft sale Web sites. The range of prices is too wide to offer any meaningful guidelines here — it all depends on the aircraft model, its age, its condition, and the installed equipment. The prices for an older used turboprop versus a new light jet can vary from $300,000 to $4 million or more.

The best way to determine the annual operating expenses is to call someone who owns that type aircraft. You can find them through the FAA aircraft registry Web site or, with an N number, on AOPA Online. There are consulting companies that will provide generic operating budgets, such as Conklin & de Decker Associates ( www.conklindd.com) and Aviation Research Group / U.S. ( www.aviationresearch.com).

Obviously, turbine aircraft cost more to operate than reciprocating-engine aircraft. How much more depends on the model. As part of your research for this upgrade project, you must determine how much you can comfortably budget for the purchase and annual operation. It can easily add up to $500,000 or more.

Here is where a good acquisition broker can really help. You, of course, want to buy the best aircraft at the best price. So do dozens of others, including aircraft dealers who are looking to add aircraft to their inventory for resale. An acquisition broker can help you get informed about the various models you are interested in, and actively stay on top of the market, looking full time for that good deal.

The flying

The third factor, and the one of most interest to you, is whether you have the qualifications and competency to fly this new aircraft. It has been argued that a turboprop is physically easier to fly than a piston twin, and that a jet is even easier to fly than a turboprop. While that may be true, it doesn't change other realities. The flight environment for a jet is vastly different than that for a piston-engine. You are traveling higher and faster, so you have to think that much further ahead of the aircraft. You may not be used to executing your descent nearly 100 miles out. And up at those altitudes, you're playing with the big boys. There is little patience for someone who doesn't know what they're doing.

As for FAA licensing legalities, you'll need a complex checkout for a single-engine turboprop, and if you already have a multiengine rating, you're OK to fly a twin-engine turboprop as long as its maximum gross weight is 12,500 lb or less. Both require a high-altitude sign-off. Turboprops grossing over 12,500 lb and all jets require a type rating specific to the make and model of aircraft. No matter what turbine you decide on, it is highly recommended to obtain training from one of the commercial training centers, such as FlightSafety International, SimuFlite, or Simcom.

Most jets require two pilots, but some small jets allow single-pilot operations with special training and a checkride. Even if you get a single-pilot type rating, your insurance company is going to require you to have an experienced pilot fly along with you for some predetermined amount of time, such as 50 or 100 hours. This is definitely time well spent. You will learn a lot and come to appreciate having a good "co" help you through the early times. While the FAA might be tough, the tougher reality you are going to encounter is whether your flying credentials and flight experience measure up in the eyes of an insurance company writing a policy to cover you. It may be trite, but the truth is that more is better. An advanced certificate with more ratings and lots of flight time is what insurers are looking for. Look at it from their perspective. I have worked for an underwriting company trying to determine whether an aircraft with a valuation that might be in the millions and requires higher limits of liability coverage can be safely operated by a nonprofessional pilot. There is no set standard, but don't even think about it unless you have close to 1,000 hours of complex time.

Now for the big question. What color?

Walter Kraujalis is a jet-aircraft broker, consultant, and aviation attorney. An active pilot with an ATP in eight different jets and helicopters, he is the former director of safety for USAIG insurance.

COST TABLE

Note: Ten minutes have been added to the flying times for each leg to compensate for takeoff, climb, acceleration to cruise, descent, deceleration, and landing. Time is rounded to the nearest five minutes.

*Time for the Chicago to Los Angeles trip in a turboprop includes a 30-minute fuel stop.

MILEAGE DISTRIBUTION TABLE

Real-World Costs

The costs of operating a turbine-powered airplane can really add up fast. Unless you have a money well that will never go dry, you need to properly plan your cash flow. That's difficult to do if you've never done it before.

Fortunately, there are a couple of consulting companies that have taken the trouble to survey owners of different types of turbines and compiled their cost information into easy-to-understand statements. You will find that their cost estimates vary from those stated by the aircraft manufacturer because their data comes from operators using actual costs. Manufacturers typically state the best-case scenario.

One is Conklin & de Decker Associates of Orleans, Massachusetts. Its Aircraft Cost Evaluator has the relative operating costs for more than 350 jets, turboprops, helicopters, and pistons. It comes as software or in a printed handbook.

The software allows you to compare up to three aircraft at one time. More than two dozen cost factors can be adjusted, such as the cost of fuel, labor, hangar, insurance, and annual utilization in either hours flown or distance flown. Updates are issued twice a year. The handbook is great for when you are away from your computer. The software is priced separately for jets, turboprops, or pistons at $475 apiece. You cannot buy information for just one aircraft model.

The paper handbook editions are also separately priced at $400 apiece. You can reach Conklin & de Decker at 508/255-5975.

Another resource is Aviation Research Group/U.S., or just ARG/US for short, of Cincinnati. Its Aircraft Operating Cost Report likewise lists variable costs (fuel, routine maintenance, parts, trip expenses), fixed costs (hull and liability insurance, engine monitoring, miscellaneous services), periodic costs (hot section, mid-life, engine overhaul, refurbishing, modification, and upgrade), and training and facilities. Applicable service bulletins and airworthiness directives are tracked by aircraft make and model. A general description of the aircraft design features is also included in each report.

ARG/US takes a different approach and sells its reports for specific aircraft models at $49 apiece. You can reach the company at 800/361-2216. — WK