Page 8 - Volume 10 Number 11

if I could find one that had a good airframe with the right engines (preferably the Blackhawk engines with less than 5,000 airframe hours), I could restore the rest to my preferences,” he explained.
Mark Rogers of Lone Mountain Aircraft, one of Vierling’s clients, helped him with his search; a 2002 C90B that met Vierling’s specifications was found in Leon, France. “I wasn’t concerned that it was in France because Mark had imported aircraft before and he flew over with me to check it out,” Vierling said. He had signed
Vierling (center) with David Garvey of Aviation Training Management (left) and his friend/Cirrus partner/instructor Ken Grause, at one of the snowy stops while flying the King Air to the United States.
Vierling and his wife, Marielou, in front of the King Air where they picked it up in Leon, France.
a purchase agreement from only the information and photos provided by the seller; what he didn’t know was that the photos provided were of the airplane when the seller purchased it. Since then, the King Air had been used in charter operation and was pretty beat up. When he arrived to see the airplane, Vierling found it to be “one ugly, well-used bird.” He insisted they renegotiate and says he left France feeling better than when he arrived!
When he got back home, the first thing Vierling did was warn his wife that when she saw the King Air for the first time, she wasn’t going to like it because it was in rough shape.
He assured her that would change.
Making the C90B His Own
At the time of his initial trip to France, Vierling didn’t have his multi-engine rating. Once he signed on the dotted line, he knew he would have to work quickly so he could fly the King Air to the U.S. Since he was used to the G1000 avionics in the Cirrus and planned to have it installed on the King Air, he wanted to train on an aircraft that had it. He located a Diamond Twin Star in Columbus and scheduled the training. Unfortunately, the Twin Star broke down before he could get started. He wasn’t able to find another one in the area, so he
6 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
NOVEMBER 2016