1974 Beech King Air C90 for Sale (N501MS)
Sold
Available now: 2001 Citation Bravo — $2,300,000
Aircraft Specifications
- Asking Price
- Sold
- Year
- 1974
- Model
- Beech King Air C90
- Registration
- N501MS
Consultant's Notes
The short version
A 1974 Beechcraft King Air C90, registration N501MS. Pressurised twin turboprop, Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A engines.
This aircraft has been sold. The page stays up because the King Air is the aircraft most buyers are choosing *between* when they consider a light jet — and the comparison is almost always presented badly, by people with something to sell on one side or the other.
We sell Citations. Read what follows knowing that, and note that the honest answer below is not always the jet.
The comparison people actually face
The King Air C90 and a light jet like a Citation occupy overlapping territory: six to eight seats, pressurised, twin-engine, short-to-medium legs. Buyers routinely look at both. The differences that matter are not the ones the brochures lead with.
Speed and altitude. The jet wins, clearly. It climbs faster, cruises higher and gets above more weather. On a two-hour leg the difference is real but smaller than people expect; on a four-hour leg it is decisive.
Field access. The King Air wins, and it is not close at the short end. A C90 gets into runways and surfaces that no Citation should be taken to. If your destination list includes genuinely short or unimproved strips, this decides the question by itself.
Operating cost. The King Air wins on fuel and typically on maintenance. Turboprops burn less, and the PT6 is arguably the best-supported turbine engine in general aviation.
Cost predictability. Roughly even, and it depends on programmes. PT6 hot sections and overhauls are large but well understood, and programmes exist. Jet engine programmes exist too. An aircraft off programme is unpredictable regardless of what turns the propeller or does not.
Maintenance access. The King Air wins. There are more shops, in more places, that know it.
Passenger perception. The jet wins, and it is silly to pretend otherwise. It matters to some owners and not at all to others, and it is worth being honest with yourself about which you are.
The rule that decides it
If your typical leg is under about two hours, the King Air is very hard to beat. Lower cost, better field access, easier maintenance, and the time advantage of the jet is largely consumed by climb and descent on short legs.
If your typical leg is over about three hours, the jet earns its cost. Above that, the altitude and speed compound: fewer weather diversions, less fatigue, and days that end when they were supposed to.
Between two and three hours it comes down to specifics — the airports you use, whether the schedule is tight, and how much the fixed costs matter relative to the value of the time saved.
Anyone who answers this question without asking about your routes is not advising you. They are selling.
The C90 specifically
The C90 is the small end of the King Air family, and it is the version that fits owner-flown and small-flight-department operations. It is not fast, it is not long-legged, and it does not pretend to be. What it is, is exceptionally well supported, forgiving to operate and cheap to run relative to anything pressurised and turbine-powered.
The PT6A is the reason the type endures. Fifty-year-old airframes remain in daily commercial service because the engine has a global support network, a mature parts supply and a deep pool of shops that know it. That is worth a great deal on an aircraft of this age, and it is why a 1974 King Air is a reasonable purchase in a way that a 1974 aircraft with an orphaned engine would not be.
What to verify on any King Air C90
Engine status and programme. Hours since new and since overhaul, position against hot section and TBO, and whether an hourly programme covers them. As on any turbine aircraft, this is the largest cost variable.
Corrosion and basing history. At fifty years, where and how it was stored outweighs how much it flew.
Airworthiness directive compliance for that serial, which on an airframe of this vintage is a substantial list.
Avionics. What is installed, whether ADS-B Out is certified, and whether the panel suits how you actually fly.
Inspection status, as the actual report with dates and hours.
Damage history and title, in writing, plus an independent search.
A pre-purchase inspection at a facility you choose, with genuine King Air experience — not one the seller suggests. That test applies to whoever publishes the listing, ourselves included.
Who the C90 suits
An operator whose legs are typically under two hours, who values field access and low operating cost, and who wants the widest possible maintenance network. An owner-pilot who wants pressurised twin-turbine capability without jet costs.
Who it does not suit
Anyone regularly flying three hours or more. Anyone for whom cruise speed drives the value of the trip. And anyone who wants to fly above most weather routinely rather than through some of it.
What is currently available
The aircraft listed on this site today is a 2001 Citation Bravo, serial number 550-0995 — a jet, and therefore the other side of the comparison above.
If your flying is short-leg out of small fields, this page has just argued that a King Air may serve you better, and we would rather say so than sell you the wrong tool. If your legs are longer and the schedule matters, the Bravo is worth looking at: PW530A engines on Power Advantage+ with full coverage, which addresses the cost-predictability question raised above. Its full specification and assessment are on its own page.
Further aircraft are due into inventory. When enquiring, send your three most frequent routes — that answers the jet-versus-turboprop question faster than any brochure.