Page 16 - Volume 13 Number 6

through Elliott Jets’ office in Minneapolis. It has 6,800 hours total time and ADS­B installation is scheduled this fall with Elliott.
The King Air 350 is based at Cutter Aviation at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. They use the Textron Aviation Mesa Service Center for some maintenance work as well as continuing to use Stevens Aviation in Nashville for larger jobs.
“King Airs have always been on our radar,” Earl said. “They seem to fit our company image and missions better than jets. We love the safety history of the King Airs, and you can get into some places that you can’t with jets.
“While the majority of our flights are west of the Mississippi River, we’ve covered a pretty good range in our King Airs. We’ve gone as far north as Norman Wells, Canada, which is about 60 miles from the Arctic Circle, and we travel down to Mexico about four times a year. We’ve been as far east as Georgia a few times, too.”
In addition to touring properties they own and visiting calf suppliers, the family uses their King Air to take customers and employees fishing or for personal trips to visit family, take vacation, hunt and fish.
More upgrades on the way
The Petznicks see N416NH as a keeper. They appreciate the time savings, for example regular trips to Sandpoint, Idaho, almost to the Canadian border, take 30­45 minutes less with the Blackhawk­upgraded 350 compared to the B200. The interior double­club configuration is more comfortable compared to the sofa and three forward seats in the B200.
They also appreciate the enhanced safety with the G1000 NXi avionics suite. Prior to Lubbers joining the company, they had been flying with two pilots.
“When I started, their insurance required two type­ rated pilots,” Lubbers said. “I mentioned to the brothers that I’ve flown single pilot in my family’s 300 and C90B for the past five years and that might be something to look into. They called their insurance company and were able to get single pilot usage for less money than they were paying for two type pilots. Going forward, we’ll still use a second pilot if any passengers want the peace of mind of having another pilot, or if we’re heading out for a long day or a trip where there might be some difficult weather.”

14 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
JUNE 2019