1974 Beech King Air C90 en Venta (N504MS)
Vendido
Disponibles ahora: 2001 Citation Bravo — $2,300,000
Especificaciones de la Aeronave
- Precio Solicitado
- Vendido
- Year
- 1974
- Model
- Beech King Air C90
- Registration
- N504MS
Notas del consultor
The short version
A 1974 Beechcraft King Air C90, registration N504MS. Pressurised twin turboprop, Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A engines.
This aircraft has been sold. The page stays up to answer a question that sounds sceptical but is entirely fair: why is anyone buying a fifty-year-old aeroplane, and is it sensible?
Fifty years is not what it sounds like
An aircraft is not a car. It does not have a design life measured in years, and it does not accumulate hidden decay on a schedule. It is maintained to a standard, inspected on a programme, and components are replaced or overhauled at defined intervals for as long as someone is willing to pay.
A well-maintained 1974 airframe with a documented history is a known quantity. A poorly maintained 2005 airframe with gaps in the record is not. Age is a proxy that buyers reach for because it is easy; the record is the thing that actually matters.
That said, age is not nothing, and the honest version has three parts.
Corrosion is the real enemy. It is driven by environment and storage, not by hours. Fifty years is fifty years of exposure, and a thorough structural inspection is not optional at this vintage.
Compliance accumulates. Five decades of airworthiness directives and service bulletins means a longer list to verify than on a newer aircraft. Routine to check, but it must be checked against the specific serial.
Some things become unobtainable. Airframe-specific parts and legacy avionics can run out of support. This is where the King Air's position is unusual, which is the next section.
Why the King Air, specifically, keeps flying
Two reasons, and they explain nearly everything about the type's longevity.
The PT6A. It is among the most produced and best-supported turbine engines in aviation. Parts exist. Overhaul shops exist in most countries with meaningful aviation activity. Prices are competitive because there is genuine competition. There is no mystery about what a hot section or an overhaul costs, and programmes are available. On a fifty-year-old aircraft, having an engine like this is the difference between a viable asset and a project.
Fleet size. Beechcraft built King Airs in very large numbers over a very long production run, and they are still in production today. A large fleet in daily commercial use means the maintenance ecosystem stays healthy: shops keep the knowledge, suppliers keep the parts moving, and there is a real market whenever you want to sell.
That combination is why C90s from the seventies remain in charter, medevac and corporate service rather than sitting in the back of hangars. It is also why a fifty-year-old King Air is a fundamentally different proposition from a fifty-year-old aircraft with a small fleet and an orphaned engine.
The honest limits
The C90 is slow by jet standards and it is not a long-legged aircraft. It is not pressurised to jet levels, so it flies lower and through more weather. Cabin comfort on a long leg is adequate rather than luxurious.
If a large part of your flying is three hours or more, the case weakens quickly regardless of how good the type is. The C90 rewards operators who fly short legs frequently, not operators who fly long legs occasionally.
What to verify on a King Air of this vintage
Corrosion, thoroughly, by a shop that knows King Airs. The most important finding at this age.
Basing and storage history across decades, not just the current owner. Coastal, humid or outdoor storage leaves a record on the airframe that the logbook does not always mention.
Engine hours since new and since overhaul, position against hot section and TBO, and programme status. The largest cost variable on any turbine aircraft.
AD and service bulletin compliance for that serial. A longer list than on a newer aircraft, and entirely checkable.
Avionics: what is installed, what is certified, what is still supported. ADS-B Out status specifically.
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 of your choosing. At fifty years this is the best money in the transaction. A seller who resists it has answered the question — including when the seller is us.
Who it suits
An operator flying short legs frequently, who values low operating cost and wide maintenance availability, and who will judge the aircraft on its records rather than on its year. A buyer who wants pressurised turbine capability at the lowest realistic cost of ownership.
Who it does not suit
Anyone flying long legs. Anyone who wants a modern cabin. And anyone who is not prepared to fund a genuinely thorough pre-purchase inspection — on a fifty-year-old aircraft, skipping that is not saving money, it is deferring the invoice and losing the chance to negotiate on it.
What is currently available
The aircraft listed on this site today is a 2001 Citation Bravo, serial number 550-0995 — a jet, twenty-seven years newer, with PW530A engines enrolled on Power Advantage+ with full coverage and maintenance tracked on CESCOM.
It is a different aircraft for a different mission, and if short legs from small fields are your reality, this page has argued that a King Air is likely the better tool. Where the Bravo wins is on longer legs and on cost predictability. Its full specification and assessment are on its own page.
Further aircraft are due into inventory. The most useful thing to send when enquiring is your actual route list — it settles the turboprop-versus-jet question without anyone having to guess.