C90 King Air Conversion

Isabel Goyer

Monday, August 10, 2009 at 08:00 AM ET

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Refurbished 1979 King Air C90 Robert Goyer

Key Takeaways:

Cutter Aviation successfully refurbished a 1979 King Air C90, demonstrating that older aircraft can be made significantly better than their original factory condition through strategic upgrades.
The extensive modifications included Raisbeck's C90 Epic package with Blackhawk engines, Quiet Turbofan propellers, and Dual Aft Body Strakes, substantially improving performance, reducing noise, and increasing maximum takeoff weight.
The refurbishment also featured a modern Garmin G600 avionics suite, along with new paint and a completely redone interior, transforming both the cockpit and the aircraft's overall aesthetics.
The project proved highly successful, creating a C90 with vastly improved speed and operational capabilities that quickly sold for an estimated $1.5 million, highlighting the value of comprehensive aircraft refurbishment.

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New King Airs are wonderful airplanes, but they do cost what new airplanes of that caliber cost. As with any new model, a factory-fresh King Air gives you a lot of things you can’t retrofit affordably, if at all, into a 20- or 30-year-old airplane. That’s why people keep buying new King Airs.

While there are a lot of mods available for older King Airs, the end result is not going to be an airplane that’s as good as a new one — as much as you might wish that to be true. What you can get is one that is, without question, better than it was back when it was new.