Cessna 401B

This page describes the Cessna 401B, and the certificate makes that almost a formality: TCDS A7CE Section II gives the 401, 401A and 401B one identical set of limits, with no per-model qualifier on any weight, speed, seat, baggage or fuel line. The only things that differ between the three are the approved propeller governors and the serial ranges.

The 401 is the corporate half of a pair. Cessna launched it in 1966 alongside the Cessna 402B Businessliner / Utililiner on the same airframe, same engines, same 6,300 lb gross weight, same 100 usable gallons and the same airspeed limits. What separates them is the cabin: the 401 is certified for a maximum of eight seats and the 402 for ten, and the 401 has no cargo door option and a smaller baggage arrangement. In this catalogue a different certified seat count is a Step 1 hard split, so they are separate pages — and that split also removes a real fault, because the conflated page they came from stored the 402's ten seats under a title that named the 401 as well.

The 401 was dropped after 1972 while the 402 ran to 1985. Roughly 675 serial numbers are eligible across the 401, 401A and 401B.

Unpressurized. For a pressurized cabin twin on the same fuselage, see Cessna 414 and Cessna 421B Golden Eagle.

The certificate gives one set of figures for all three, so the table records what actually distinguishes them.

Every certificated figure on this page applies to all three without qualification.

See Maintenance Ecosystem.

Parts: fair, and leaning on the used market. The TSIO-520 is well supported; 401-specific airframe parts are not, and the fleet that keeps 400-series parts moving is a 402C fleet.

Mechanics: specialist. Turbocharged Continentals, electric gear rigging and the spar AD procedure are not general A&P work.

Engine reserve: $58,000 per engine at overhaul, multiplied by two by the cost model. At the 1,400-hour TBO carried on this page that is roughly $41 per engine per hour and $83 per hour for the airplane, before removal and installation.

Wing spar fatigue is the dominant pre-buy item. The lower wing spar cap AD campaign covers the 401, 401A, 401B and the pre-C 402 series. Compliance is either an endless recurring eddy-current inspection or the terminating spar-strap modification, and the modification is a major, expensive job. On a low-value airframe the modification can cost a meaningful fraction of the airplane. Verify the AD numbers and the compliance method against the logbooks, and do not accept a 402C spar record — the 402C has a different wing and its own AD.

Electric landing gear. The 401 and pre-C 402 use an electric gear system that the 402C later replaced with hydraulics. Torque tube, bellcrank and fork bolt inspections and main gear inner barrel bearing work are recurring items, and gear-related events dominate the damage history of the whole 400 series. An annual gear swing on jacks is the minimum standard.

Exhaust systems. Turbocharged Cessna twin exhaust has a poor history: leaking V-band and slip joints put exhaust gas into the engine compartment or the cabin. Pressure checks are recurring and the parts are consumables.

Crankcase cracking on the TSIO-520-E and -EB. A known weakness on this engine dash, worse at high cycle counts. Budget a case inspection at annual.

Turbochargers. Reduce power gradually in the descent and let the engines idle before shutdown.

See GA Insurance Underwriting.

A light twin of the same underwriting class as the 402 series: expect commercial multi-engine or ATP, four figures of total time, a few hundred hours of multi-engine time and dual in type before solo. Hull values are low enough that liability is usually the larger part of the premium. Low multi-engine time draws a substantial surcharge on any 400-series Cessna.