This can all be blamed on Adam. I was following his posts on the SOPA board (C337) long ago as I went down a similar decision path towards twin ownership. Two roads diverged, and he got into his early piston commander, and I ended up in a late model Cessna 340. But even though I didn't get into the same plane, I kept reading his posts on various boards - as we all know, they're massively entertaining reads. I'd never heard of a Turbo Commander, but his fawning over the type lead me to read about it, and...well....here I am. So it's all his fault.
So onto my "what-a-very-nice-problem-to-have" dilemma. Over the past two years, I've managed to schedule maintenance between flights and enjoyed a decent dispatch rate in my 340. I've dumped a ton of money into it between maintenance and a complete panel upgrade. A big reason for that was I didn't really expect to have this opportunity to upgrade, and I assumed I'd keep the 340 for 20 years, so I chase every. single. squawk. But over the last 2 months, that perfect dance between maintenance and flying disintegrated, and I've been effectively grounded for 6 weeks. I've managed to convince myself that's it's piston problems - if I didn't have to touch the damn engines to constantly fiddle with them (50 hour oil change, 50 hour exhaust AD, etc) I'd be in the air more and on the ground less. I fly about 250 hours a year - this year will be less with the grounding.
Work is going well, and buying a top-of-the line 980 or 1000 is a possibility in the next two years. But that's at least two years away, and I've just lost 6 weeks of air time chasing piston issues in my 340. A buddy of mine recently upgraded from a Cessna 421 to a 441 and raves about how he hasn't touched the -10 engines since he made the switch and hasn't scrubbed a flight since (his dispatch rate was miserable in his *very* nice 421.)
What I could do is get into a 690A (or maybe 690B if I'm lucky) this summer or fall. The thought would be to fly it for two years (about 250 hrs/year, probably down to 200 with the faster plane) and then trade it in on the nicer plane with the -10 engines. If I never do manage to build the cash pile high enough, I still have a decent, capable turbo twin. I *think* the operating costs will be about the same or close enough. I generally think they're higher on turbines - I don't buy into the "it's a wash with cheaper fuel" theory - but I'm already at the very high end of the range on my 340. One cost that will definitely go up is about $1200/month for a hangar - I'm pretty sure I can't fit a commander into my current hangar. Although I've very mechanically capable (I've built an experimental) I generally don't have the time to wrench on my own plane. I do quite a bit to learn about my systems and point the A&Ps in the right direction, but I leave the work to them.
What's important to me:
Reliability
What's not:
Interior, paint
What I'll have trouble *not* spending money on:
A G600/GTN750 upgrade
Questions:
Do you think the 690A/Bs will hold value reasonably well? If I do nothing but maintenance, can I get back 90% of my purchase price after another 400hrs of flying?
Will my dispatch rate in a "cheaper" plane (my threshold is a plane that's currently flying and in annual) be as high as I expect it to be?
Will lack of local knowledge kill my dispatch rate? A significant part of my most recent grounding is due to lack of local type-specific knowledge about my 340's engines.
What's the possibility that unexpected maintenance puts a big hole in the cash pile and delays the acquisition of the spiffy 695?
OK, start the discussion - spend someone else's money!