I fly some version of a Piper PA-46, a Daher TBM or a Beechcraft King Air five to six days a week. I’m either instructing, examining or sometimes I get to fly those beauties all by my lonesome. Not a bad gig, eh? I love my job and would not choose to do anything else.
My company has four King Airs under management – two 350s, a Blackhawk 300 and a B100, and I fly those airplanes a lot. I am generally able to recite numbers accurately and plop myself in just about any variant of the 3XX/B100 and feel right at home within seconds.
Until recently, I hadn’t flown the King Air 90 series often. But all of that changed during the past six months – a local owner purchased a 2019 King Air C90GTx, we helped a client purchase an F90-1, and we had another client in Spain purchase a C90GTx and ask us to sell his older C90 model.
Suddenly, I got to fly the various 90 models a lot and despite this series being the smallest and slowest of the King Air siblings, I enjoyed every minute. The iterations of the King Air model 90 are generally the lesser appreciated version of the beloved lineup, remaining in the shadows of the 200 and 300 series, but is that warranted? Smallest and slowest doesn’t mean it is not the best for some.
If you are new to the King Air world, your eye will certainly be lured by the big, sexy and powerful King Air 350/360. Everyone starts there. Everyone wants bigger, faster and stronger, right? Well, yes, assuming you can afford the cost and have a hangar big enough for the best turboprop that Beechcraft has to offer. Many don’t. It also is a lot of airplane and may not fit your mission.
Usually, practical owners begin the process of going through the King Air models. As you move through the models, you start to learn more and find that the King Air 90 models are also fabulous airplanes and perfect for some owners.
The 90 doesn’t get much love from those who don’t know it well, some even refer to it as an “overgrown Baron.” I fly with a lot of TBM and PA-46 clients, including some looking for an upgrade in useful load or range. They usually snub their nose (initially) at the King Air 90 when considering an upgrade. Only 230 knot cruise? Only 4.6 PSI? Only 1200fpm climb? What that prospective buyer forgets about is a potty, a great deal more room and a lot of range.
Speed sells and the King Air 90 performance numbers are not thrilling to most owners already in a high-performance, single-engine turboprop. But the 90 does possess an extra engine that those turboprops don’t have, and the King Air 90 versions are the least expensive King Air to acquire and operate.
When the 2019 King Air C90GTx arrived at our ramp, I was excited to take it up for a flight. With only 300 hours on the airframe, it looked and smelled new and had the advanced Collins Pro Line Fusion avionics. It was fun for me to get into something that was clearly “cutting edge.” The futuristic-looking, electric rear shades can be controlled from the cockpit or the cabin, the interior appointments are exquisite and the seats can seemingly move in any direction. For passengers and pilots alike, the C90GTx is the epitome of comfort.
Our 2019 C90GTx was one of the last to roll off the assembly line. Textron Aviation has stopped production of the C90GTx, and I’m sad that is the case. There are rumors about slumping sales, but I like to think the C90GTx competed with the sales of the bigger King Airs, and there’s no sense competing with yourself. So, the newest of the 90 fleet will cost nearly $4 million to purchase, but you’ll get an updated airplane that is incredible.
You may wonder if the C90GTx has much ramp presence. I can tell you that I think it is the sexiest King Air in existence. With winglets, super-long wings and a great paint scheme, the C90GTx is ridiculously good looking. I parked the one we were flying next to our 350 and I think the C90GTx is sleeker and has a better ramp presence. It may be dwarfed in size by the model 350, but dang that C90GTx is sleek and sexy.
Just as I discovered my love affair with the 2019 C90GTx that was under our management, I got a phone call from one of my favorite people in the world, Antonio Elias. He is one of those really neat people in our aviation community – an immigrant from Europe who proves how America can be the land of opportunity. He came to the U.S. with a dream and empty pockets and ended up with a Ph.D. from MIT. He was a contributor to the design of NASA’s space shuttle, led the technical team that designed the first private space launch vehicle, the Pegasus rocket, and is a Piper M600 pilot/owner, which is how I got to know him.
Antonio introduced me telephonically to one of his good friends, Mauricio Bella Sanchez. Mauricio lives in Spain and was the owner of a 1978 King Air C90 that he was ready to upgrade to a C90GTx.
A former airline pilot and now a business owner in Spain, Mauricio had an appreciation for the FMS-style Pro Line 21 avionics suite and he wanted “newer and nicer.”
My team started searching for the best C90GTx we could find and soon discovered a really nice 2014 model in Florida. Negotiations went well, money changed hands, and I now had Mauricio’s new-to-him C90GTx to fly to Spain. It was on this trip across the North Atlantic that I really gained an appreciation for the best-of-breed version of the 90.
I averaged 264 KTAS for the entirety of the flight from the U.S. across the North Atlantic to Spain and burned an average of 548 pounds per hour at FL240. The C90GTx boasts two PT6A-135-A engines, offering more power and more margin during an inadvertent over-torque event than other 90 variants. Simply put, the -135-A has more of everything a King Air pilot wants; it is one huge factor that makes the GTx better than its other variants.
It could be argued that the F90-1, which generally has the same engines as the GTx, is also a great airplane. I’d agree. Those few* F90-1s that Beechcraft made are highly sought-after variants that outright perform. But, they don’t come with upgraded avionics, a fancy interior and much lower airframe hours found in newer aircraft.
The Friemel family of Amarillo, Texas, used to own a King Air 200, so they knew the costs associated with a big-body King Air. They wanted all the good aspects of a King Air, but wanted to watch their expenses. We helped them find a King Air F90-1 to purchase and they are loving it. They promptly installed the latest and greatest Garmin avionics, and while they were at it, upgraded the interior and got the exterior painted.
The only difference between that F90-1 and the GTx is the winglets. The Friemels have a 30-year-old King Air 90 but, if you didn’t know better, you’d swear it just rolled off the production line at Textron Aviation. It is immaculate and they didn’t spend $4 million to buy it. In fact, they’ve got far less invested in their F90-1 and it costs less to operate than their previous King Air 200.
Beech Factory Airport (BEC)
Wichita, KS USA
Then there’s Mauricio’s 1978 C90. Who would want an old C90? A lot of smart people. We had his C90 under contract before it ever hit American soil. There was a long line of possible buyers for this fine King Air C90 because it only had 4,000 hours of flight time and the engines were youthful. Plus, the panel was upgraded with dual Garmin G500s and dual Garmin 750s. The autopilot had been upgraded to the Genesys Aerosystems S-TEC 3100, a seriously upgraded autopilot with lots of safety features. Add the fact that the paint and interior were recently updated, and this was one of the nicest C90s on the planet. Even though his C90 is more than 44 years old, it was in pristine condition and buyers knew it. We sold the C90 for less than $1 million, which was above-retail pricing at the time.
While a C90 will cruise slower than a GTx, it sips the fuel comparatively. On the ferry flight to the U.S., Mauricio’s C90 averaged 440 pounds per hour in fuel burn and cruised at 235 KTAS at FL230. Experienced King Air pilots know that speed is sometimes an illusion, meaning that a 30-knot increase in airspeed does not usually translate into radically faster flight times. In block-to-block flight comparisons, the GTx will beat the C90 every time, but not by much, usually less than 30 minutes, even on the longer flights.
The C90 doesn’t have articulating seats, fancy window shades or USB ports. It is a bit louder and it certainly has an “older feel.” But, if you want to move seven people a long way in multi-engine safety and comfort but not break the bank, the C90 might be your best consideration.
When I open the hangar at KJSO (Cherokee County Airport in eastern Texas), ready to pull out an airplane for an adventure, you’d think that the 350 would be the airplane of choice. Sometimes it is, but not always. I really like flying the King Air 90s, as any of them are a joy to fly.
If you move down from a King Air 90 you move into an unpressurized and arguably underpowered Baron. If you move up from a 90, the footprint, costs and size also move up. With the King Air 90 you get the smallest King Air, but also a potty, plenty of room for the family or business associates and reasonable performance numbers.
The various versions of the venerable King Air 90 are a really good consideration for the buyer who owns a smaller hangar, wants cheaper insurance premiums, doesn’t want to get a type rating or just wants to spend less money. Americans in general have a propensity to buy the biggest/fastest/strongest/sexiest, but those who are good money managers, those who know it costs more money to haul more aluminum through the sky and those who know how to fit an airplane to the actual mission they plan to perform might just choose a King Air 90.
Whether you go for the latest and greatest GTx, the F90-1 or a model 90 version built in the 1970s, know that the King Air 90 is one great airplane. I like them all.
* Only 33 units of the F90-1 were produced when the decision was made, in 1985, to stop production.
Joe Casey is the owner of Casey Aviation, Inc. based at KJSO in eastern Texas, which manages four King Air aircraft and provides flight training in many models of airplanes. He has 16,800 hours of total flight time, over 4,000 of which are in King Air airframes. He is a certified ATP-ME Commercial Pilot with ASEL/ASES, Rotorcraft-Helicopter/Instrument and Glider ratings. Casey is also a Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE) with BE-300 type rating issuing authority up to the ATP level, and also holds CFI, CFII, MEI, CFI-H, CFI-IH, CFI-G certificates. He has flown over 75 North Atlantic crossings in King Air aircraft.