1988 Cessna Citation IISP à Vendre (N551TG)

Vendu

Disponibles maintenant: 2001 Citation Bravo — $2,300,000

Caractéristiques de l’Avion

Prix Demandé
Vendu
Year
1988
Model
Citation IISP
Serial
551-0591
Registration
N551TG
Airframe
10,008.8 hrs
Engines
P&W JT15D-4
Engine time
L: 9,937.9 hrs / R: 9,870.2 hrs
Paint
2025 — Panther Black Metallic
Seats
9

Avionics

Description

Fresh hot sections left and right with 1,750 hours remaining. Dual Garmin GTN750Xi's with XM Weather. Traffic in and out. Second to the last single-pilot IISP produced from the factory. 10K inspection performed 2025. 100% new Bravo interior with air stair. Both windshields replaced 2018. New brakes and tires, ready to fly today. Complete log books professionally audited.

Notes du consultant

The short version

A 1988 Cessna Citation II/SP, serial number 551-0591, registration N551TG. 10,008.8 hours total airframe time. Two Pratt & Whitney Canada JT15D-4 engines, 9,937.9 and 9,870.2 hours, both with fresh hot sections and 1,750 hours remaining. Nine seats. Dual Garmin GTN 750Xi. Paint and interior both done in 2025. Logbooks complete and professionally audited.

This aircraft has been sold. The page stays up because most of what follows is not about this airframe — it is about what a Citation II/SP is, what the single-pilot certification actually buys, and what a high-time example is worth. Anyone shopping the 551 will get more from this page than from the specification above.

What the II/SP is, and why the "/SP" matters

The Citation 551 is a Citation II certified for single-pilot operation. Same airframe, same JT15D engines, same cabin — the difference is in the certification and the cockpit fit, and it changes the ownership equation more than any performance figure on the type.

A conventional Citation II needs two pilots. A 551 does not. For an owner-operator, that removes an entire salary, or the scheduling problem of finding a second crew member for a Tuesday morning departure. Over a few hundred hours a year, that difference is usually larger than the fuel bill.

What it does not remove is the requirement to be qualified. Single-pilot operation of a 551 requires the CE-500 type rating with the single-pilot authorisation, and — in practice, the harder gate — an insurer willing to write the policy. Underwriters look at total time, time in type and recurrent training, and a low-time pilot will often be quoted a two-crew requirement anyway for the first year or two. Anyone buying a 551 specifically to fly it alone should get an insurance quote before signing anything, not after. It is the single most common unpleasant surprise on this type.

Ten thousand hours: what that number means

10,008.8 hours on a 1988 airframe is high time. There is no way to present that as anything else, and any listing that glosses over it is not helping the buyer.

What matters more than the number is what was done at it. The Cessna 500-series carries a 10,000-hour inspection — a deep structural check, expensive, and the point at which some owners simply sell rather than pay. On this aircraft it was performed in 2025. That is not a detail; it is the difference between an airframe with a large known bill in front of it and one that has just paid it.

The same logic applies to the engines. Both JT15D-4s had fresh hot sections with 1,750 hours remaining. On a type where the engines are usually maintained on condition rather than an hourly programme, a hot section just completed is real, quantifiable money that the next owner does not have to spend.

So the honest framing of a high-time 551 is this: you are not buying low time, and you should not pay for low time. What you can buy is an airframe whose expensive milestones are behind it rather than ahead of it. Those are two different assets at two different prices, and confusing them is how people get hurt on older Citations.

The panel question, answered differently

Most thirty-year-old Citations come with thirty-year-old avionics, and that is usually the strongest argument against them. This one did not: it carried dual Garmin GTN 750Xi units with XM weather and traffic in and out.

That combination matters more than it looks on a spec sheet. It means WAAS, LPV approaches, modern moving-map navigation and datalink weather in an airframe that otherwise dates from the late eighties. For an owner-pilot flying single-pilot IFR, that is not a luxury — it is the equipment that makes single-pilot workload manageable in weather.

It is also the upgrade most often quoted and least often done, because it is expensive. When you find an older Citation that already has it, the cost of that installation is effectively embedded in the aircraft, and it is worth valuing explicitly rather than treating as a bonus.

What was actually renovated, and what that is worth

Paint and interior were both completed in 2025 — the exterior in Panther Black Metallic, the cabin fully rebuilt with an air stair. Both windshields were replaced in 2018. Brakes and tyres were new.

A word on how to read claims like these on any listing, including this one: paint and interior are the two things a seller can improve cheaply relative to how much they change a buyer's impression. They are genuinely valuable — a tired cabin costs real money to fix — but they are not a substitute for logbooks and inspection status. A beautiful aircraft with an unclear maintenance history is a worse buy than a plain one with a clean, audited record. On this aircraft both were true at once, which is the combination worth looking for.

What to check on any Citation II/SP

None of these are red flags. They are what a competent buyer verifies on any 551, and a seller who resists showing them has answered the question.

The 10,000-hour inspection. Has it been done, or is it ahead of you? Get the date, the facility and the findings. On a high-time 551 this is the first question, not the last.

Hot section and overhaul status. Confirm whether the engine times quoted are total time since new, and where each engine sits against its intervals. Ask specifically whether there is any hourly engine programme, because on this type there usually is not.

Single-pilot certification and insurance. Confirm the aircraft is in fact a 551 and not a 550 being described loosely, and get a written insurance quote for the pilot who will actually fly it.

Corrosion and structure. At this age and this many hours, where the aircraft lived matters. Ask about basing history, not just ownership history.

ADS-B Out, RVSM, and approach capability. Confirm each is installed, certified and current for the airspace you intend to use.

Damage history and title. In writing, plus an independent search.

A pre-purchase inspection at a facility you choose. Not one the seller suggests. That test applies to whoever is publishing the listing as much as to anyone else.

Who the 551 suits

An owner-pilot who wants to fly the aircraft themselves and has, or can realistically obtain, the rating and the insurance. A small company where the second crew seat is a cost problem rather than a preference. An operator flying one- to two-hour legs from airports where runway length rules out larger equipment.

Who it does not suit

Anyone who needs long legs — this is a short-to-medium-range airplane and no amount of enthusiasm changes that. Anyone shopping strictly on purchase price without budgeting for engines and the 10,000-hour inspection. And any pilot assuming single-pilot certification automatically means they will be allowed to fly it alone; that decision belongs to the insurer, not to the certification.

What is currently available

The aircraft listed on this site today is a 2001 Citation Bravo, serial number 550-0995 — the last and most refined version of the same 550 family, with PW530A engines enrolled on Power Advantage+ with full coverage, trailing-link landing gear and a Honeywell Primus 1000 panel.

It is a two-crew aircraft, so it does not answer the single-pilot case directly. What it does answer is the engine-cost question raised above: it is on a programme, which is the variable that separates a cheap Citation from an expensive one. Its full specification and assessment are on its own page.

Further aircraft are due into inventory. The useful thing to state when enquiring is the mission — typical legs, passengers, airports, budget, and whether single-pilot operation is a requirement or a preference — because that is what determines whether any given airframe fits.