I am in the process of learning to fly now, was considering buying a Grand Caravan. I would appreciate anybodys opinion of this airplane, thanks for any information given.
Harold
They’re big, slow and turbine powered with a poor ice record. Good luck with the insurance.
Not that he’s wrong, but they’re also utterly reliable, will fly away with damn near anything you can fit in them, very forgiving to fly and fairly expensive to purchase and maintain.
Oh, and did we mention they’re slow?
And not cheap.
Thank you gentlemen
I second that. I think you can get more plane for the money then a caravan. Just my 2 cents though.
Any suggestions???
I’d suggest looking at reviews of the Cessna Caravan. Here’s a couple.
aviatormag.com.au/stories/De … ravan.html
privateairdaily.com/magazine … 17755.html
As a non-pilot person who is very interested in aviation, I know the Caravan does having icing problems. However, it must be a great aircraft because there are so many of them out there earning a living every day. FedEx alone has hundreds of them.
Unfortunately, the article I wanted to find I couldn’t locate on the Internet. It was an article about a privately owned, well-equipped (both instrument-wise and passenger-wise) Caravan.
Again, before anyone bitches at me, I’m not a pilot. My question is: if you are just starting to learn how to fly, are you going to go straight from the basics to flying a turboprop?
What’s your budget?
2.5 MILLION DOLLARS
What are you going to use it for?
Business use? Personal use? Passengers? Cargo? Areas of primary operation? Single pilot? Over water operation?
Well, you have the budget. If a Caravan is what you want, and it fits your mission…enjoy! Have you checked out THIS?
There have been some neat stories about owner/operator flown Caravans set up for both land and sea. I think it would be a great plane for the right pupose (including experience of the pilot). It would not make sense for where I live (next to a wall of mountains).
Initially Cessna did not offer a corporate/club interior option for the Caravan. As the plane became more popular for this use they contracted with Yingling Aviation to produce the Oasis Caravan.
http://www.yinglingaviation.com/interiors/index.html
http://www.cessna.com/caravan/grand-caravan/grand-caravan-interior.html
A used Pilatus is probably similar in size with a lot more speed. Some list on controller for like 3.2 million so maybe a little out of your budget. Also, look at the TBM’s. But maybe speed isn’t that big of a thing you. I just don’t think the Caravan’s offer much.
Good question
Giving the benefit of the doubt… I don’t imagine that the OP is going to go from a fresh PPC directly into the Caravan. However, The Caravan handles like a big 182, and the avionics are the same Garmin found in a new 182. And there are those (and I am not condoning this) that have achieved their PPC in very high performance singles like Mooneys, Bonanzas, Malibu/Mirages, even TBMs and PC12s. Is it a good idea? No. Has it been done successfully? Yep.
lol, is fishing season open now? I had a fantastic BBQ’d salmon this summer. The wine wasn’t bad either.
Seriously, I suggest NOT going straight from getting your private to buying a turbine or multi-engine airplane. Get some experience first.
John
Perfect for Buffalo Hunting, even comes with Safari interior.
I would have to believe that occurred while you were home on vacation this summer John, not in your present locale. We’ve always enjoyed fresh fish of all kinds. When we took an Alaskan cruise awhile ago we were very pleasantly surprised to find salmon in all its varieties available at all three meals a day. CFIJames in particular found the always available salmon pizza a fatal attraction. 
Ditto, get a few hundred hours under your seat first.