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Moving on Up: Your First Turbine

Known for its pleasant handling and good pilot ergonomics, the Cessna 425/Conquest I is a good first turbine, especially for pilots coming out of twin Cessnas.

With piston-engine Cirrus owners successfully moving up into Vision Jets over the last seven years and turbine aircraft prices slowing what had been meteoric rises, is now the time for you to make that move into turbine power you’ve been considering?

Turbine power is about performance and capability—and we’ve watched and spoken with numerous piston owners who have moved up into the turbine world. What we’ve observed is that while there are potholes that must be negotiated when making the step, er, jump, it’s certainly doable. We’ll go through the considerations—good, bad and indifferent—and then set out our top five step-up turbine birds.

Rick Durden

Senior Editor Rick Durden has written for Aviation Consumer since 1994 and specializes in aviation law. Rick is an active CFII and holds an ATP with type ratings in the Douglas DC-3 and Cessna Citation. He is the author of The Thinking Pilot’s Flight Manual or, How to Survive Flying Little Airplanes and Have a Ball Doing It, Vols. 1 & 2.