I Bought The CHEAPEST 421C In The World. 

Twin Cessna Flyer Organization twincessna.org/join/

I stumbled into a part-time gig flying 2 C421Cs four years ago right after I retired from the Airlines. I had been flying Airbuses for the last 15 years or so and it was quite a change. I came from a GA background but hadn't had either the time or money to fly a light airplane since the early 90s. It was an education, and a lot of fun, too. What a wonderful flying airplane! Light, balanced controls, superb visibility, predictable, responsive handling. A true joy to fly. It took some time to get back into the underpowered piston mindset, but the guys I worked were patient with a HUGE pool of knowledge and were very helpful. I don't claim to be an expert in the 421 but I'll pass along some of the collected wisdom of thousands of hours in type flown by my guys. First, forget all the performance numbers in the manual. This thing uses a LOT of runway. We used to fly out of a 2800 foot runway with trees at each end with one of the 421s which happened to have a Robertson STOL kit. This helped, but getting the thing to 120 knots over the trees on takeoff (which gave us a margin of 9 knots over Vyse of 111) was exciting with both engines turning and 1000 pounds under gross. The downside of those big, beautiful props? They produce a lot of drag if they're not feathered. I was advised that if I lost an engine early on takeoff to just feather the dead engine and secure it later. If not, just cut the good engine and land and fly it into something soft. Not how we're taught in flight school but good advice, I think. Second, those engines produce a lot of heat. In order to get the climb numbers Cessna publishes, they advise climbing at 120 knots. We never did this: the engines just get too hot. We usually climbed at 130 minimum, often 135 or 140 if it were summer. Climb performance takes a beating because of this. Third, because of this, we seldom operated this thing above 10,000 feet. For us, the beating the engines took wasn't worth it. They are VERY expensive to replace. I've gone as high as 13,000 to clear some weather and was light at the time, but climb performance was less than 500 fpm at 135 indicated, well below gross. And you never want to sit on the ground on a hot day awaiting takeoff. I was surprised to find no cowl flaps and watched the oil temps sitting right below redline. Very nerve racking. We babied these engines and they always made it to TBO when we would replace them regardless of compression, if only for the gearbox. Fourth, brakes. They seemed to be an afterthought in this a/c. Really terrible. We could get it stopped in under 3000 feet easily but you couldn't carry 120-125 to the fence. Like a lot of airplanes landing on short runways, once the field was made you needed to slow it below blue line-- there would be no single engine go around. The Robertson was better at this, obviously. Last: the gearbox. There was a lot written about this airplane in the 70s when operators were watching the gear boxes self-destruct. Come to find out this thing doesn't like zero-thrust. You either need the engine driving the prop or the prop driving the engine. It makes an unusual warbling noice that your experienced instructor will point out to you as you approach the flare; that's when it's time to chop the power and fly it on like a C150. You can avoid this by dragging it in but that takes some practice and it's easy to get too slow. We used to flight plan 50 gph and would get around 47 gph at 7 to 10 thousand feet, 185 to 190 TAS, 65% power. Nice and quiet, 2000 foot cabin. Get good training, maintain it well, fly it into 4000+ foot strips, stay current and you'll love this airplane. And take the cowling off regularly and have a look. You know about surprises.

I love, love, love my 421C, 1976 vintage. Yes, it is expensive, but it is worth it IMHO! I am a strange guy, minus the expense, I enjoy working on mine and watching it blossom. I have a G600 Autopilot in my near future. I currently have glass, G600TXi, GTN 750xi, GI-275, GWX-75 (Digital Wx Radar). Being a 35 year airline pilot, I wanted an airplane with some umph. People will say you are spending too much money, but when you look at the range, altitude capability, engine out performance, seats, etc., you know you have a very capable machine. It isn't an airliner, so be careful in icing, and make sure you are rested, it's a hot rod. Thank you for your wonderful videos, I love your enthusiasm and the quality of video productions! Much love coming from the West Coast my friend!!!

Please, Jimmy go get some training at a reputable Sim class, I have a couple thousand hours in 421C,B,A. You won’t believe the difference flying in a pressurized cabin, how quiet it is, and you lose all sense of how fast you’re going unless you’re constantly looking at your airspeed in the pattern, straight in approaches are great, watch out for that turn from base to final, once you figure it out, it’s a awesome airplane, flew across the country many times in 421s, most as corporate trips, some charter, and a fair amount, part 91 for maintenance checks, make sure you thoroughly understand how the starters operate and how to start those engines when it’s hot. 421WC was my favorite, wish you luck with being the caretaker of your new project,

Congratulations on getting a 421! That is truly a timeless design of a GA twin, awesome plane.

Welcome back Jimmy this is what I like seeing what you do best...

These are the kind of video's I love! Fixing and flying these planes..

Jimmy spends money like he’s printing it in the basement 💰 😂😅

Nice looking airplane Jimmy. Glad you have a very knowledgeable mechanic there to show you the pros and cons of purchasing a Cessna 421 Golden Eagle. The fuel tank issue Tony mentioned is indeed a big deal. This situation claimed the life of a friend of mine and two of his buddies. He was flying a 1975 Cessna 421 to the Bahamas for a nice weekend getaway. They found a fuel leak and thought it was coming from the fuel sump. A mechanic where they rented this 421 from replaced the sump valve and thought that fixed the problem. They flew the plane from South Carolina to Florida to refuel before heading off to the Bahamas. They arrived in the Bahamas with no problems. When they were getting ready to leave, he had the FBO there top off all the tanks. Apparently there was a fuel leak, but it was not caught on his preflight. Shortly after take off, the right engine caught on fire. He tried to turn the aircraft around, but the right wing melted off the airplane before he could complete his turn. The plane crashed into a heavily wooded area. It took first responders 20 minutes to get to the crash site. By then, the whole plane was engulfed in flames. There were no survivors. This happened 5 June 2018 in Rocksound, Eleuthera, Bahamas. The NTSB ruled the accident as pilot error because there was really nothing much left of the airplane for inspectors to investigate. Sorry to end on a sad note, but corrosion is a common problem on 421's that have the fuel tank behind the firewall. It sounds like you have a great mechanic there that is aware of the problem and knows how to correct it so the new owner does not end up like my friend and his buddies did in the Bahamas. I really enjoy your videos. Keep up the great work.

I love Jimmy’s World!

421s are great, but be very careful with the engines. You will like the smoothness and the quiet cabin thanks to the low RPMs…the RAM conversion puts on the winglets.

After being able to take a very large item off my bucket list, I’m am happy like a little Kid with a new puppy that you’re getting the 421c, it’s been a journey and not everything has went the way you planned, but you’re getting there, be careful,God Bless, really enjoy your channel

Hey Jimmy - I spent a lot of time maintaining a stable of twin Cessnas when I was a tech in the 90s. It might be worth making sure the fuel injection is set up correctly. There is a lengthy procedure in the maintenance manual that will ensure the fuel injection system is tuned properly and that the engines are matched. The 421 was one of my favorite aircraft to work on. The GTSIO-520s sound so sweet.

Doing the RU-vid thing and watching, liking and sharing. Cause Jimmy is AWESOME.

Jimmy while you have the nacelle apart and the fire wall partially removed ask Tony if the crossfeed lines were replaced with stainless steel. There is a Service kit for replacing them. Years ago when they had all the exhaust problems there were several fatal crashes where an exhaust leak burned a hole in the firewall and they ruptured the aluminum crossfeed lines. There is no way to shut off those lines once they are ruptured. If there is a fire it will burn until all the fuel tanks are exhausted. By then the fire usually burns through the spar and the wing falls off.

Great purchase Jimmy, can't wait to see that bird in the air with you and the family!

Nice Jimmy, I am just an air tanker pilot so a 340 is as high up the ladder as I’m going to go. You will love the plane as long as you can hang with the money. But if you have to ask….you probably can’t afford it. Have fun and be careful. The big twin Cessnas are a joy to fly! You are a rock star Jimmy!! I highly recommend Aircraft Simulator Training in Burnet Tx for your annual insurance mandated training. Rick and his crew are the best. Simulators are top notch.

That’ll do. Looking forward to many adventures in the future for Jimmy and family.

heck yeah Jimmy, love talking to guys like that too you always feel like you learn so much

Beautiful. Listening to the experts, seems like a reasonable deal. Thanks for sharing with us.

Jimmy thank you so much for making my Friday better ❤

I love this channel! It's great to see Jimmy going on ward and upward with bigger, cooler, faster, and more expensive aircraft!

I'm excited to see you flying the 421. I have flown one before and loved it.

I’m happy for you on the 421. It seems to be a nice example. I can’t wait to watch your new 421 adventures.

Congrats on the new 421C! You deserve it! Looking forward to the journey with you 😇

Seems like a few commercial airline tickets would save you about $95000 dollars to go to the Bahamas..

Not only have you inspired me to pursue Aeronautical Engineering, Jimmy, but your influence has also led me to become a Private Pilot. Now, I'm on the path to obtaining my commercial license. Thank you very much!!!!

Love it. That's a bad ass plane with lots of usable upgrades. I think that's as good as it gets before going into jets. Enjoy with your family and good health for all.

Your energy and sense of humor is what makes your channel soooo fun to watch!!! And also all your flying stuff.

Finally a plane up in here, what a beautiful 421C! Oh, also thank you for saving the 310 and making a great job of it and taking the time to walk us through the whole story! I enjoyed every bit of it and I'm so happy to see this! It seems saving the 421C is a whole other level! Wow! Amazing airplane tho'

Love your channel. Can't wait to see you flying in it.

Good for you Jimmy! Happy for ya!

Another absolutely amazing video! Learned so much about maintenance and corrosion...wow. Thank you so much Jimmy!

Looking forward to all the details !

The winglets are part of the RAM conversion. Glad you are getting training. It’s real easy to tear up the gear boxes on those engines. Always plan a cruise descent. Never, ever, ever, yank the power to idle and back-lash the gears. Smoothly to idle in the flare.

Congrats Jimmy!

I follow your videos so I can live vicariously though your adventures. Love them Jimmy.

Looks like you found your perfect aircraft Jimmy! Hope your avionics upgrades, etc. don't break the bank! It's going to be fun watching the adventures!

I was hoping you get the aerostar ! Talk about a rocket ship!! I've heard some pretty interesting stories of adventures in 421's. One of which was icing conditions. The front boots on the wings were inflating and keeping the ice clear, but the boots on the horizontal stabilizer had stopped working. Unable to visually inspect that part of the plane while inside, when they went to flare in the landing there was very little elevator authority due to the ice, so the landing was quite harsh. Since its such a tank and built so well, even with the ice, on the stabilizer, it even functioned fairly well outside of its engineered use. Keep safe and rubber side down.

Congradulations on buying the 421! Looks like it's going to be real solid after the repairs. Good luck and have fun.

Congrats and good luck with getting it flying and yourself checked out! 🎉🍾🥂👍🏻😊

My unofficial humble opinion is; PULL THE TRIGGER, pal, looks beautiful!! Be safe always from the Philippines.

The 421 is the plane for you, Jimmy. It's a workhorse. It's fast, sturdy, and has a good range for cross-country. I flew quite a bit (no, I didn't have one), with a friend, and I tell you, she's a real pleasure to fly. Good buy. Good winds and happy landings from Portugal 🇵🇹

Fantastic !! Best of luck with your new ride

Love it jimmy get that training done can’t wait to c you and your fam in it congrats m8

Congrats on 421! Such an awesome and capable plane. Flew in one that a family friend owned a bunch of times. Word of advice, be mindful on the hot starts, they can be a real biotch to get going.

It's also been great to see Jimmy's channel grow like it has

Jimmy, you are insane!!!! I love it you inspire me to go do something I don't know what but something. ROCK ON DUDE. YOU ARE THE MAN PLUS GRIZZ.

Doing what Jimmy does ! I flew a 421 for a businessman out of Tyler Texas back in the middle 1990s before I went back back to flying AG planes.

Winglets can only be put on the 421Cs without the trailing link. Basically gives them the 414A wing, which is longer than the standard 421C so it will be even more stable at altitude.

Congratulations Jimmy! 421C is one of those dream planes I'd love to have.

Yeah, Good buy Jimmy. Can't wait to see you guys flying it.

Congratulations on the purchase! Maybe one you can come to Wichita and take a tour of our factory over in the westside facility. I've been there 23 years and love it. Thanks for the videos.

Airplanes turn millionaires into thousandaires! Nice looking plane Jimmy. I hope it provides many safe fun trips for you and your family. Always enjoy your content.

You're going to need to do annual recurrent training to get insurance for that one.

Noble, elegant undertaking. God bless this project. From Thailand.

Congratulations on your new bird. It will have the best possible prebuy inspection. When it comes to high altitude operations, especially in descent, you will find yourself in a new world but I know you will get the necessary training and have many rewarding flights in the 421C. At times ATC may not be quick to understand the operational limitations during a descent. I suspect you will employ an experienced 421 airman to ride with you as copilot until you are comfortable with all phases of operation. Smooth flying and thanks for sharing with us on RU-vid.

Dude! You like a project that will get you and family to great adventures, so what's wrong with that? Great job brother! 😎

Congratulations!

I work with an AG operator based in KDFI. I get to watch those twin Cessnas take off all day long and have probably seen this exact plane out before. Love to see you in the area and maybe I'll get to meet you one of these days out there!!

I got flight time in a functionally and aesthetically restored DC-3. I loved every minute of it and always looked forward to the next flight. So I am certain you are in for a wonderful treat. The previous owners got N421KM to this annual, now you are taking this lovely aircraft into the future. As Tony pointed out, we are not really owners but caretakers of these lovely highly capable machines. Also, I own a functionally restored antique car with decent original paint. I feel blessed and pleased every time I take my '85 Mercedes out.

Sweet Ride !!! 😊

Jimmy.... she's purdy! I worked Avionics on the OV-10D Bronco back in the day. Those twin turbos are freaking fast!

Congrats on your purchase and looking forward to the restoration process. He is correct about corrosion being the disdain of the aviation field and I wish more owners took it seriously.

Solve the problem at the source. Remove the tank permanently. It takes fuel to haul fuel. Much safer without it.

I’m sure the D.E.A. Has that Tail number memorized. That plane has been in all the wrong places.

Embraer 195 driver here… absolutely love the airplane! It really has mini airliner vibes. Would love to fly one one day

SO excited about the Golden Eagle. What an awesome aircraft. Congrats and can't wait till he can hear "clear prop" for the first time

Ah my favorite airplane to fly. Spent many hours flying the 421 B, and 421 C models. They have a bad reputation for high cost to operate, maintain, and service. Most of the problems came from too many pilots not operating the plane as they should. This is an airplane that is best flown by one pilot! It does not like power and prop changes. Every change must be slow, and your flight profile must be well planned in advance. Pulling power and shock cooling the engines is a quick death to the engines. There is not another plane that is as sweet to fly with those geared engines and massive props. This airplane if it flown correctly will deliver lower cost to operate than a C414. I miss my C421, and it still is my number one favorite piston cabin class airplane ever made. Getting insurance will be a challenge for you and keeping currency. Let's see how this turns out.

Man, I really admire how dedicated you are to this. It’s almost hilarious. Cheers good sir. Love the content.

I believe u an your family will love it. I was AMS on f14 from 78 to 82 and did C/C and skin replacement it can get u quick but your bird looks like it is real good condition. Alway be insightful with this bird and it will take care of you and yours. Good luck. Kevin stephens. VF 84. Tomcats. Jolly Rogers

Jimmy, I’ve been watching you for several years now. I’m so excited about you buying a Cessna 421C. I’ve started reviewing and watching every video about the 421C. What an amazing aircraft. I came across an article that says, While RAM Aircraft has converted Cessna 421Bs and 421Cs with different engines and associated systems, only the winglet equipped version received a different designation, RAM/Cessna 421CW. Your purchase of this aircraft has got my heart racing, wishing I had gotten into twins when I was younger. I started with a 1954 Piper Tri-Pacer, then a couple of 182’s then a Cessna 205, the best airplane I ever owned. Due to age and health conditions, i no longer fly. Good luck with your new Cessna 421CW. I’ll be watching and living my life through your adventures. I can’t wait till you’re actually flying the 421CW. God Bless.

Aerostar/Queenair/421. Coolest piston twins out there.

Love the 421C!! I am looking forward to future flight videos. Follow another channel (Jerry Wagner), and he has a 421C. Like I said... Beautiful plane!!!

I learned so much, Thank you Jimmy!

Very nicely done Jimmy!

Could I interest you in a bucket of kitty litter and a scoop? Put it in the rear baggage next to the potty. You will thank me. Be sure to use the scented kind. And speaking of corrosion, is there a large enough hangar to keep that 421 in? I would hate to park it outside in FLORIDA!

If you have the money and can justify it and the 421 is considered 100% good I would say Do It! Don't forget to Polish the front and side Pilot windows and ceramic coat them if it is approved. Please do at least 40 hours of training in it if that is feasible for you. Then keep up with the hourly expense projections and Hangar the thing. Change the tail Number to N421JW and I think that number is available. That would be a good Tail Number for it. It would be a number that will help people know who the Owner is.

Sweet Upgrade Jimmy! congrats🙂👍

Congratulations on your purchase. That is an awesome airplane!

KING AIR!

I would buy airplane tickets and fly to where ever instead of going this route, but hey, to each their own.

Think you have made a good choice with the 421 Jimmy. Good luck with it look forward to seeing the trips you make with it our airforce the royal new zealand airforce had 3 in the 80s 90s they had a great run with them .keep the videos coming love what you do and good luck with the sale of the 310 and lancair

It's a testament to American aircraft manufacturers that their airplanes are not only still flying,they're repairable antiques.

Jimmy. You should have auctioned at Osh24. That would have been super cool.

God bless you, Jimmy, the 421 and the new owners of the planes you are selling! Praying for God's blessings on all your aviation endeavors. In Jesus' name. Must be a little bit nerve racking to work on what was someone else's private plane. They are beautiful. Thanks for all the great videos.

Lovely aircraft Jimmy, enjoy.

Hey Jimmy, as a professional pilot for over 40 years. Please get the best training possible and do it annually! better yet find a simulator.

Airworthiness directive should run anywhere between a right arm, and a double nosebleed. $$$$$. LOL. Should be called Jimmy's Thug Life! 😎

Wow Jimmy ! Nice bird ! The 421 is my second favorite 400 series Cessna 🤣😉 Can’t wait to check it out 👍🏼👍🏼

Great advice from someone full of product knowledge. Cannot be underestimated how important that is in the world of aviation.

History has shown Jimmy shouldn't agree to buy things over the phone..... 🤣🤣🤣

Jimmy, you really need to visit the UK with your nice shiny new plane. Come to EGCB Manchester Barton, see how the Brits live and fly.

Congratulations Jimmy. Looks like a great find. Wish you had asked him about the mods. I'm sure we will learn a lot more about it. Be safe.

Lovely looking aircraft. From the 401 onwards they just look right. Even for 1976 it looks 21st century. Love it.

shoulda stayed with the Aztec. Plan for 1100 hours before overhaul on the 421

Its nice to see you actually fix these planes.

Wow. Great information from a very knowledgeable expert.

Love it! This will be great to follow .

I keep waiting to see you end up getting a j3 cub on floats like at jack browns.