CESSNA T206H

The turbocharged Stationair, a six-seat fixed-gear single with a large double cargo door on the right side and 310 hp. It is the working aeroplane of the modern Cessna piston line: skydiving operators, aerial survey companies, utility operators and remote-area charter outfits buy them because they carry bulky loads out of short strips and, with the turbocharger, out of high and hot ones too. As a family aeroplane it is the one in this survey that most easily takes six people and their bags. The engine has been the same since the type appeared in 1999. The panel divides the fleet: through 2004 it is a conventional round-dial panel with Bendix/King radios and a KAP 140 autopilot; the Garmin G1000 was offered after Cessna certified it on the Stationair in September 2004, and became standard with the GFC 700 autopilot from 2007, so a 2005 or 2006 aircraft can be either. From mid-2016 the aeroplane has been sold as the Turbo Stationair HD with a 189 lb higher gross weight, and from 2017 with the G1000 NXi.

It is expensive to buy and expensive to feed — around 17-18 gallons an hour in cruise, a large turbocharged six to overhaul, and an exhaust system that must be inspected carefully because cracks in a turbocharged exhaust are both a power and a carbon-monoxide problem. The 27,000-foot ceiling is theoretical for most owners; without pressurisation you are on oxygen masks above the mid-teens, so it is used as a heavy hauler rather than a high-altitude cruiser. Handling is straightforward and it lands slowly, but it is a big, heavy aeroplane and insurers want time in type. On amphibious floats it is a common and much more expensive proposition.