Cessna 421 Annual Costs

[Scudrunner]

I watch some aircraft for sale groups on Facebook
and occasionally a Cessna 421 comes up for sale.
I know they have a geared engine and if you're ham fisted throttle jock you can screw it up letting the prop drive the engine.
But I have seen numerous comments like this below on many sites about astronomical annual inspection costs.






I'm not so naive to think that a Cessna twin is a bargain to operate but really? 50K Annually ?

4K for insurance (pilot dependent)
Hangar 6K-15K (location dependant)
Charts and other fees $1000

Annual is seriously going to 30K?

[Colonel]

Depends how you fly it. If you buy one without any problems looming
and fly it right, the annual isn't much different than any other piston twin,
and I've done plenty of them.

If ham-fisted pilots fly it, expect two new GTSIO-520 engines every year,
and that's expensive. They can spin the mains and destroy the crankcase
halves in addition to cracking all the cylinders and destroying the gear drive.

Keep an eye on the SID and spars, though. AD's on the way. Also, that exhaust.
Also, the heater in the nose needs inspection. Also, the waste gates tend to
stick at higher altitudes and need fussing. None of this is rocket science.

B model is much less expensive than the C, IIRC. Has a much more complicated
fuel system.

I love the 421B. I'd buy one if I could find a good one. An old friend. Just like
the Pitts and the F-104, they have a bad reputation because they do not tolerate
fools. But with a reasonably skilled pilot, they reward you with great performance.

Egalitarian pilots - you know, hamburger in the cockpit - do not like airplanes like
that. But the 421 carries an amazing load and covers incredible distances. Nice
and quiet. I filed IFR/G direct everywhere at 15/16/17k. Got me over a lot of the
wx.

Get one with the windshield hot plate. That alcohol is useless. Pretty good in ice.

[Liquid_Charlie]

I was always a cessna twin fan and no not a pun, The 402C was better than a chieftan in my opinion, faster, more room and biggest, a lot more range. The fuel system was just wet wings, no tips or locker tanks.
The 404 was a great aircraft as well but with the geared engines not one for hamfisted handling and training. A company in St Andrews found that the #1 engines was always failing prematurely, turns out this was the favourite engine for simulated failures. Once this revelation sunk in they altered their training methods and basically told TC to fuck off and the engines were basically left alone and vital actions demonstrated. Once engines were only retarded a few inches the failure issues went away.
I have a little time in the 421B and that too was a pleasure and the 310 was a great little toy.
I flew the 402B a little but most of my twin cessna time was in the 402C

I flew the chieftain a little and just never liked that aeroplane.

[Colonel]

I've never flown a 300/400 series Cessna that I didn't like. Some
are more capable than others, of course, but I still liked them all.

Lots of different engines, but I found that the larger the piston engine,
the less it liked the throttle fucked with. If you're the kind of pilot
that can set it and forget it, you'll do fine with a large piston engine.

[Chuck Ellsworth]

The 421 is a wet dream to fly and so smooth and quiet to ride in.

[Colonel]

I think I've mentioned before that Transport Canada thinks I'm such
a bad pilot, I shouldn't be allowed to have Canadian citizenship any
more, but the FAA seems to like how I fly an 421: