Cessna 210K/L Centurion II (1970-1976)

The specifications on this page describe the Model 210L, which is 2,070 of the 2,373 serials in Section XIII of FAA TCDS 3A21 — 87%. The 1970-1971 210K is a Variants-table row with its own figures. Where a limit is split by serial, the block covering 74% of the 210L run is the one stored, and the other is in the table.

The 1970 Cessna 210K introduced the 3,800 lb gross weight and the six-seat cabin that defined the Centurion II for the next fourteen years. 3A21 Section XIII is the first 210 section headed 6 PCLM and the first with three seat rows — the 210G, 210H and 210J before it are four-seat airplanes on the certificate, whatever the sales literature said. With 1,675 lb of useful load and 89 usable gallons, the 210L carries four adults and their bags a long way.

The 210L ran through the 1976 model year, not 1972. The page previously said 1970-1972. 3A21's eligible-serial list gives the 210L five model years — 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1976 — and the 210M does not begin until serial 21061574. That correction roughly doubles the airplanes this page is about.

And both models use the IO-520-L. The page previously said the 210K used an IO-520-A and the 210L "added" the IO-520-L. 3A21's sub-block is headed Model 210K/210L with one engine line — Continental IO-520-L — for both.

The K/L Centurion IIs are the value sweet spot of the line: the full 3,800 lb airplane at well below 210M/210N money. AOPA's own used-aircraft write-up puts it plainly — "The experts' consensus marks the 1972 L model as the best point of entry for those new to the 210", because by then the airplane had the large cabin, the cantilever wing and the electric gear power pack.

The 1970 gross weight jump

The 400 lb increase from 3,400 to 3,800 lb is the most consequential capability change in the type's history, and Cessna Flyer attributes it to the gear rather than the wing: "In model year 1970 the landing gear legs were changed from flat steel to tubular steel... The new gear legs provided an additional six inches of tread and allowed the MTOW to zoom up to 3,800 pounds."

Working the real loadings against AOPA's 2,125 lb empty weight and the certificate's 89 usable gallons:

Six seats and full fuel is not a combination this airplane offers, which is true of almost every six-place single and is the reason the seat count and the useful load are two different questions.

Every certificate figure below is from FAA TCDS 3A21 Rev. 50 Section XIII. Airspeed limits are split by serial — see Performance Notes.

The bold row is what the frontmatter describes. Two things to read off that table:

• Flaps-extended speed is the only limit that separates the 210K from the 210L in the early block: 96 knots against 104, printed on the same line of the certificate with the model names in brackets.
• The 1976 airplanes are limited in INDICATED airspeed and everything before them in CALIBRATED, which is why the numbers step up rather than down. They are not a faster airplane; they are the same airplane measured differently. 1,537 of the 2,070 210L/T210L serials (74%) are in the earlier block, so that is what the frontmatter carries.

3A21 issues one serial sequence for the 210K, T210K, 210L and T210L together, so these counts include the turbocharged airframes. They are quoted that way rather than split on a guess; the turbo airplanes are on cessna-t210k-l.

Against its neighbours

Cruise speed, range and fuel burn on this page are not sourced. They come from the April 2026 generation pass. A type certificate carries no performance data, and AOPA's fact sheet — which does have a 1972 210L column — has no cruise row and no range row at all.

AOPA does publish a fuel burn: 15.6 gal/hr at 75% power, against the 14.5 stored here. It is deliberately not taken. The house rule is that cruise speed, burn and range come from one row of one table at one power setting, and lifting a burn out of a document that states no speed and no range beside it would leave the three describing a flight that does not exist. The disagreement is recorded rather than resolved, and it says the stored 14.5 is optimistic.

What AOPA's 210L column does settle: a 15,500 ft service ceiling (the page carried 17,300, which traces to nothing), 860 fpm best rate of climb, stall speeds of 65 knots clean and 57 in the landing configuration, a 2,125 lb standard empty weight and a 1,675 lb useful load — 115 lb more than the page previously claimed, and it reconciles exactly against the certificate's own 3,800 lb.

The airspeed limits are split by serial, and the basis changes with them

Section XIII prints two blocks:

• S/N 21059200 through 21061039 — CALIBRATED, mph first with knots in brackets: Vne 196, Vno 165, Va 117, Vfe 96 for the 210K and 104 for the 210L. 1,537 of 2,070 210L serials, 74%. This is what the frontmatter carries.
• S/N 21061040 through 21061573 — INDICATED, the 1976 airplanes: Vne 199, Vno 168, Va 119, Vfe 105, gear limits 140 knots rather than 139. 533 serials.

They are stored as a set. Pairing the calibrated Vne with the indicated Vfe would describe no airplane.

3A21's NOTE 4 covers only the 1976 block, and even there it says less than the Cessna 172's does. 3A12 states that "TIAS is exactly equal to CAS" for its covered serials; 3A21 says only that marking the indicator in IAS is an equivalent level of safety when the handbook's calibration data is aboard. So there is no FAA statement converting one basis to the other, and the stored calibrated figures are stored unconverted. AOPA prints "196 KCAS" and "165 KCAS" for the 1972 210L, agreeing on the numbers and the basis.

Gear speeds

160 mph (139 knots) for gear operation and gear extended on the 1972-1975 airplanes; 140 knots on the 1976 ones. The catalogue has no vlo/vle field, so the limits live here.

3A21 gives the 210K and the 210L one engine: the Continental IO-520-L, rated 300 hp for a five-minute takeoff at 2,850 rpm and 285 hp for all other operations. The page previously said the 210K used an IO-520-A and the 210L "added" the IO-520-L; the certificate's sub-block is headed Model 210K/210L with a single engine line. TBO 1,700 hours.

Field overhaul: $42,500-$53,500. Factory reman: $48,000-$58,000. The catalogue's reserve uses the national specialty-shop figure of $48,000 per reference/engine-overhaul-pricing.md.

210K/L pricing trades above equivalent 210G/H/J for the six-place cabin and the 400 lb of extra gross weight — the fuel is the same 89 usable gallons on both, which the old page got wrong. A 210L trades above a 210K for the electric gear power pack and the 28-volt system, not for the engine: 3A21 gives both the same IO-520-L.

The price band on this page is legacy and unsourced, and it was written for a run believed to end in 1972 rather than 1976.

210 universal concerns apply. K/L-specific:

1. Gear pump transition, and it is a 1972 boundary. Cessna Flyer: "In 1972 the electrical system on the 210L was upgraded to 28 volts, and the landing gear extension/retraction system was changed from one powered by an engine-mounted hydraulic pump to one which the pump was powerpack-mounted and electrically powered." So a 210K is engine-driven and a 210L is electric. 3A21 NOTE 6 confirms the electrical change at the same point: 14-volt through S/N 21059502, 28-volt from 21059503 — which is the first 210L serial.
2. Gross weight verification: 3,800 lb is 400 lb above the 210G/H/J; inspect for fatigue at the gear attach, wing spar attach and tail attach.
3. Tank condition: the 89 usable gallons live in sealed integral wing bays, not bladders. Fifty-year-old sealant leaks at the seams. Pressure-test at pre-buy.
4. Cantilever wing inspection: per Cessna SID 27-10-01, internal spar cap corrosion is the major concern.
5. AD 76-09-13: gear saddle dye-penetrant inspection.
6. Check the serial against the airspeed block. A 1976 210L (S/N 21061040 and up) is placarded in indicated airspeed at 199 / 168 / 119 / 105 knots and an earlier one in calibrated airspeed at 196 / 165 / 117 / 104. They are not the same placard and NOTE 4 requires the handbook's calibration data aboard for the later ones.
7. Fuel: 89 usable, not 90. One gallon of the total is unusable and is already counted in the empty weight.