Massachusetts-based business owner Eric Hagopian wanted to move up from his Beechcraft G58 Baron twin piston to a turbine single but was turned off by the high prices. “I just couldn’t stomach it, not for my first turbine,” he said.

But the sales team at Elliott Aviation (Booth 2046) offered a solution he could stomach: taking his Beechcraft Baron in trade on a 2007 King Air C90GT with 3,400 hours TT and then refurbishing it to his exact specifications, including installing Garmin G1000 NXi avionics and adding fresh paint and a new interior. The turnkey solution appealed to Hagopian, who wanted “that new airplane smell” combined with the familiarity of the G1000 system in his Baron.  

“My last two airplanes were Garmin equipped and I’m a pretty big fan,” he told AIN. “Before the Baron, I had a GTN 750 in a Bonanza so I was very familiar with the Garmin logic and I am super comfortable flying with a totally integrated system. Plus, I didn’t want to have to learn all new stuff. Upgrading to a turbine is a major departure. And my feeling was that as I transition into a totally different platform, I’m going to have enough to learn without mastering totally new avionics.”

Hagopian doesn’t mind that the engines on his “new” airplane are almost run out. “I don’t have to worry about beating up the engines in my training,” which he plans to do at the King Air Academy in Phoenix, he said late last month as he was preparing for delivery. “Flight training is one of my favorite things to do.”

After his first few hundred hours, Hagopian plans to have the engines overhauled and to fit them with new Hartzell swept propellers. 

Hagopian’s company, Pilot Precision Products, manufactures industrial cutting tools sold through distributors in North America, and he plans to use the King Air to keep in touch with them, as well as flying to his homes in South Carolina and Florida. His typical stage length is 750 to 1,100 nm.

While the King Air has shorter legs than a new Daher TBM 910/940 or a Pilatus PC-12 NGX, Hagopian said he envisions making multiple daily stops, so the shorter range wasn’t really a factor. His main reason for transitioning to turbine was to get above the weather. “The [Baron] did everything right, but it wasn’t able to fly high enough. Pressurized pistons are just too old for my taste and the turbine powerplant is more reliable.” 

Working with Elliott, Hagopian was able to secure his new airplane and have it refurbished in just eight weeks. Elliott’s designers gave him the look and feel of a brand-new airplane for slightly more than $1 million less than a new turboprop single. His total cost is around $2.5 million, including the future overhauls. 

A big chunk of the expense was for installation of the Garmin G1000 NXi avionics. Elliott has installed 385 of the G1000 systems in King Airs since the STC was issued in 2008, about 35 to 40 per year— around 53 percent of the total market to date, according to director of avionics sales Bill Forbes. The average installation price is around $400,000. 

The system can provide weight savings of 100 to 150 pounds, compared with the standard Collins Pro Line 21 system from the factory, as well as maintenance savings of between $100,000 and $150,000 over the typical ownership cycle, Forbes said. Elliott’s Moline, Illinois facility can do the installation in as little as 15 working days, Forbes said.

Customers typically opt for the “platinum package,” which includes synthetic vision, Jeppesen charts, Garmin’s Flightstream 510 Bluetooth device connectivity, and XM weather. But owners are also increasingly adding features such as Garmin GSR 56 satellite downlink for weather, talk, and text; Garmin Traffic; and electronic stability protection.

The latter can prevent loss of control from excessive bank angle and about 20 percent of customers opt for that, Forbes noted. Overall, he said the G1000 NXi retrofit, despite its price, "is one of the most cost-effective upgrades a King Air owner can do." 

"It retains 85 percent of its blue book value when you go to sell the airplane," he added.

As in the case with Hagopian, 60 to 70 percent of King Air customers opting for the Garmin system are owner pilots who are already familiar with the G1000 from their previous aircraft. “They already know the logic of it,” Forbes said. And, like Hagopian, 25 to 30 percent of Elliott’s customers for the retrofit have the system installed while they are upgrading the aircraft's paint and interior. 

With Hagopian’s airplane, Elliott fashioned an exterior paint scheme and interior that mimicked those of a new-production aircraft, according to director of paint and interior sales Meghan Welch. Elliott typically does five to seven paint and interior jobs every month—from King Airs to midsize jets.

But during the initial months of the pandemic and into this year, business is booming, Welch said, albeit for slightly different reasons. During the early part of the pandemic, customers stood down their aircraft as Covid hobbled normal commerce. Now, aircraft owners are flying more and need more maintenance, and new customers are also coming to business aviation in response to pandemic-related travel concerns. Welch said Elliott will actually be busier this year than last. 

“A lot of interiors are done in concert with avionics and engine overhauls," she added. "Customers pay money for that asset [the airplane], and they want to get quick turn. Most of our projects are multi-scope, including installation of Garmin G1000 or G5000 avionics, the latter being in Beechjets and Cessna Citation Excel/XLSs. But even last year we had a solid backlog of three months, so planning is important.”

Welch acknowledged a few supply-chain hiccups this year, but she said that makes it all the more important for customers to start their project planning with the company early. And while the company held onto its skilled workforce through the pandemic, it is “always looking” for new technicians as it grows. 

She said Hagopian expedited his project somewhat by electing not to refurbish the hard goods aboard—chiefly the laminated cabinetry, which, despite its age, was still in good condition. But just about everything else in the cabin was replaced.

The polarized window shades were replaced with the electrochromatic iShade system, which allows the pilot and passengers to control window tint gradations. And the seats were refoamed, resculpted, and recovered in new leather, the carpeting was replaced, and the headliner and sidewalls were given fresh, “ink-resistant” ultraleather. New lighting and USB ports were also added.

Hagopian updated the cabin with an eye to eventual aircraft resale, choosing a neutral color scheme and not doing any personalizing, such as initials or his company logo.   

“It was just a fun experience for the customer,” Welch said. “He got to make the airplane his own.” 

“I’m absolutely giddy,” said Hagopian.