Cessna Caravan Costs

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meritflyer

Well-Known Member
I always thought a Van would be a great personal aircraft to own for several reasons such as no pressurization (mx costs/insurance), fixed gear (mx/insurance), superior useful load, easy to operate (flies like a big 172), plenty of cargo space, and so forth.

A newer T C206 is around $350K (2004 w/ G1000).

A new C208 is $2M w/ G1000.

The sheer price to me is unbelievable when you could land a turbine plane for a fraction of the cost. Especially, a much more high performance, pressurized aircraft.

Not sure what gives here...
 
All the new turbo props with G1000 are 2 million and up, even the Meridian. Go find and older 208 on ASO or Trade a Plane and it will be down lower. The other new turbo props that are single engine will not haul what a van will except maybe the PC-12, and I think that will run several mil as well. A C-210 is a great personal aircraft that will haul a lot. Unless you want to carry like 10 people around. Don't forget you have to hanger that 208, and that would need a huge hanger. It is fun to dream though.
 
Haha, it's always funny to read these type of discussions in Flying ... "should I buy a turboprop single, or a piston twin?"

I'm more like "can I really afford to biggy size this combo?"
 
meritflyer said:
The sheer price to me is unbelievable when you could land a turbine plane for a fraction of the cost. Especially, a much more high performance, pressurized aircraft.

Not sure what gives here...
Click to expand...

How many of those "cheaper" aircraft are approaching major inspections or other required maint. events? Yeah you can buy a 30 year old Citation for less than half the cost of the new Caravan but how much work is it going to need? When you get into jets and the bigger turboprops, you can drop some major coin on the small, "minor" items during a routine inspection -- it really gets expensive when you start talking avionics upgrades, landing gear refurbs, major inspections, engine changes, etc. We did a pre-buy on a Challenger a number of years ago - it was a "good" price but it needed another $2.2M in work, equipment, and upcoming inspections to get to where we wanted it.

It all comes down to value.... and that's a personal thing. Myself, I'd rather pay $2M for a new Caravan rather than $800K for a 1972 CE-500 that's going to need another $800K in inspections, engines, and avionics to keep it going.
 
Murdoughnut said:
Haha, it's always funny to read these type of discussions in Flying ... "should I buy a turboprop single, or a piston twin?"

I'm more like "can I really afford to biggy size this combo?"
Click to expand...
:yeahthat:

However,,,,,being a dreamer, if I could own any aircraft - the Caravan would be near the top of my list.
 
meritflyer said:
I always thought a Van would be a great personal aircraft to own for several reasons such as no pressurization (mx costs/insurance), fixed gear (mx/insurance), superior useful load, easy to operate (flies like a big 172), plenty of cargo space, and so forth.

A newer T C206 is around $350K (2004 w/ G1000).

A new C208 is $2M w/ G1000.

The sheer price to me is unbelievable when you could land a turbine plane for a fraction of the cost. Especially, a much more high performance, pressurized aircraft.

Not sure what gives here...
Click to expand...

Cessna charges so much for the Caravan because...families of "good pilots" that crash and die sue the crap out of Cessna and they end up paying big time dollars. (Same could be said of any aircraft manufacturer).
I'd rather have one like this than one with a G1000:
http://findaircraft.com/featured/eastwest/04caravan.htm
 
BajtheJino said:
Cessna charges so much for the Caravan because...families of "good pilots" that crash and die sue the crap out of Cessna and they end up paying big time dollars. (Same could be said of any aircraft manufacturer).
I'd rather have one like this than one with a G1000:
http://findaircraft.com/featured/eastwest/04caravan.htm
Click to expand...

I don't think it's quite as bad now as it used to be a few decades ago. I had some statistics and it showed that a huge portion of an airplane price was just future court fees.
 
BajtheJino said:
Cessna charges so much for the Caravan because...families of "good pilots" that crash and die sue the crap out of Cessna and they end up paying big time dollars. (Same could be said of any aircraft manufacturer).
I'd rather have one like this than one with a G1000:

http://findaircraft.com/featured/eastwest/04caravan.htm
Click to expand...

Product liability insurance nearly put small GA manufacturers out of business in the late 80's, early 90's. Note there aren't too many PA or Cessna aircraft with production dates during this period. Legal reform was necessary to allow these companies to restructure and ultimately survive.
 
I've got a ton of time in a 'Van, time in a 210 and am familiar with a 206. I really think we're comparing green apples to hand grenades here.

The 'Van is more than twice as big/heavy at BEW and Max gross.

It can carry a ton more weight with a partial fuel loading, with passengers in a lot more comfort or lots more volume for boxes.

You can get a van known icing capable.

That PT6 costs more initially than the continental (210) or lycoming (206) piston ever thought about. It is also infinitely more reliable in the right hands.

A 2000+ 'Van keeps it value. We have a 2004 'Van with 4500 TTSN that Cessna wants to buy from us for $1.3M right now (I know, it's crazy). They want to sell us the new Caravan for less than $1.7 (super cargomaster, not for pax). Try to do that with a slightly used 206.

I've never thought about the future court fee costs idea but it's an interesting one. That aside, The operating costs of a 'Van are more. The annual is more expensive, the hot section inspection will be at least $25,000 if nothing is wrong, and it carries more than 320 gallons of Jet A at a time with fuel flow rates as high as 56 gal/hour. Don't forget about insurance. The 206 and 210 will beat that everyday.

Finally, take your 172 pilot or even your 206 pilot and put them in a landing flare with a caravan for the first couple times. Add a x-wind. Hang on tight!

You get what you pay for. Still fun to dream though :D.
 
meritflyer said:
I don't think that's been brought up in this thread. :confused:
Click to expand...

No - but I just found humor in the "should I buy a super expensive plane for personal use, or a super duper expensive plane". Great to be in that situation, though.

To be fair, I do own 1/15th of a beautiful 172.
 
AviatorGator said:
I've got a ton of time in a 'Van, time in a 210 and am familiar with a 206. I really think we're comparing green apples to hand grenades here.

The 'Van is more than twice as big/heavy at BEW and Max gross.

It can carry a ton more weight with a partial fuel loading, with passengers in a lot more comfort or lots more volume for boxes.

You can get a van known icing capable.

That PT6 costs more initially than the continental (210) or lycoming (206) piston ever thought about. It is also infinitely more reliable in the right hands.

A 2000+ 'Van keeps it value. We have a 2004 'Van with 4500 TTSN that Cessna wants to buy from us for $1.3M right now (I know, it's crazy). They want to sell us the new Caravan for less than $1.7 (super cargomaster, not for pax). Try to do that with a slightly used 206.

I've never thought about the future court fee costs idea but it's an interesting one. That aside, The operating costs of a 'Van are more. The annual is more expensive, the hot section inspection will be at least $25,000 if nothing is wrong, and it carries more than 320 gallons of Jet A at a time with fuel flow rates as high as 56 gal/hour. Don't forget about insurance. The 206 and 210 will beat that everyday.

Finally, take your 172 pilot or even your 206 pilot and put them in a landing flare with a caravan for the first couple times. Add a x-wind. Hang on tight!

You get what you pay for. Still fun to dream though :D.
Click to expand...

$25,000 for a hot with nothing wrong? Wow!
 
meritflyer said:
Product liability insurance nearly put small GA manufacturers out of business in the late 80's, early 90's. Note there aren't too many PA or Cessna aircraft with production dates during this period. Legal reform was necessary to allow these companies to restructure and ultimately survive.
Click to expand...

You are right, General Aviation Revitalization Act (GARA) was a great thing and necessary! GA was being taken to court for planes and parts they made (i.e) 50 years ago. If I remember right, now the companies can only be held liable for 18 year after it is manufactured.
 
Douglas said:
You are right, General Aviation Revitalization Act (GARA) was a great thing and necessary! GA was being taken to court for planes and parts they made (i.e) 50 years ago. If I remember right, now the companies can only be held liable for 18 year after it is manufactured.
Click to expand...

Yeah it is 18 years and it is great to have this on the books!
 
mmmm Caravan. Without a doubt one of my fav planes. If I had the money, I would get the amphibious model and fly around island hopping. Or maybe a C182 amphibious.
 
PGT said:
I don't think it's quite as bad now as it used to be a few decades ago. I had some statistics and it showed that a huge portion of an airplane price was just future court fees.
Click to expand...

Well I believe the cutoff is 17 or 18 years after the aircraft has been manufactured for being able to sue the manufacturer. This helped a ton because old planes back in the 80's that would crash still could cause a lawsuit. One big reason why aircraft production went down so much in the 80's for GA aircraft.
 
Most of our Caravans are 88-92 models, and have 12-14000 hours on them. Our maintence dept takes good care of them. You could buy one for about 750K, but you would need a lot of work in the near future.
 
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