Inside The $3 Million Cessna Grand Caravan EX

This is the Cessna Grand Caravan EX, an aircraft that maintains its 208B designation, but gives operators a great deal more power, thanks to the new Pratt & Whitney turboprop engine developed expressively for the EX. The Caravan formula is legendary, and for good reason. With the Caravan, you get the brawn of a PT6, the economy of a single-engine airplane, the ruggedness of a Super Club, and the simplicity of a 185, all rolled into one gargantuan utility machine that can hold a prodigious combination of cargo and passengers. Today, we're going to look inside the Cessna Grand Caravan EX to talk about everything you need to know about the legendary aircraft. Likewise, you have plenty of choices when outfitting a Caravan's cabin. Cessna typically will not sell this airplane with a finished interior, largely because so many buyers choose to customize it. The aircraft has the same interior volume as a King Air 200, and the cabin is actually a bit wider, at about 5'4", or 1.63m. While height is 4'6", or 1.37m, length is 21'4", or 6.5m. There are four exterior doors, one at each pilot position, plus an air stair passenger door aft right, and an oversized fold-up and fold-out cargo door aft left. While the aircraft can seat a maximum of 14 people, in executive configuration the airplane seats six to eight passengers, plus one or two pilots. The executive interiors of the Caravans are virtually indistinguishable from those found on business jets. The single seats have the same swivel and recline features, and similar rich veneers and fabrics. You can install in-flight entertainment systems that almost match those in the priciest business jets too. The one big difference is the laboratory. On most executive Caravans, this consists of a flip-up part for the rear bench seat, and an underlying and dreaded chemical bowl. However, some Caravans have been equipped with electric flushing toilets, full vanities and sinks, and even exterior plug-ins for showering and generator power. Some have also been outfitted with elaborate bars and microwave ovens. Portable iridium satellite phones can also be plugged in to use an aircraft antenna. The Caravan's cockpit is comfortably spacious, more like a small business aircraft than a light airplane, and is both utilitarian and well-appointed. Climbing into the left seat is easier using the fold-out ladder at the pilot's door, but you can also clamber in through the cabin after entering via the large cargo door. Once seated in the left seat, it feels like having climbed up into a seriously big truck. An integrated glass cockpit is pretty much a standard requirement these days, and the Caravan has a long-featured Garmin's G1000 flight deck, now delivered in the NXI version with faster processors and added features such as visual approaches and HSI map overlays. ADS-B out is standard, and ADS-B in is optional. VFR and IFR charts can also now be displayed on the moving map. Garmin's SurfaceWatch alerts pilots if they are about to take off or land on the wrong runway, or taxiway, or too short a runway. Noteworthy is the newest feature that comes with NXI, the comm frequency decoding, which spells out the facility for the selected comm frequency right below the numbers. Caravans are approved for flight into known icing when equipped with the TKS ice protection system. The TKS tank holds 20 gallons or 75 liters and provides 3.5 hours of normal anti-icing operation or 45 minutes at the high flow setting. The propeller has its own TKS slinger ring, which helps protect the nose of the airplane. The windshield also is protected with a TKS spray bar. The TKS system is much cleaner looking than the de-icer boot system found on earlier Caravans, which had boots mounted on almost every forward facing surface. But where the Caravan EX truly shines is the new and improved performance. The new Pratt & Whitney PT6A-140 has a TBO of 4,000 hours and an average hourly fuel burn of 60 gallons or 230 liters. And coupled with a McCauley four blade aluminum, constant speed full feathering propeller brings a lot more power, which does good things all around for the Caravan. This is no surprise, as higher power Caravan engine mod packages have been around for some time, clearly proving the point that more power brings better runway performance and a much greater rate of climb while costing just a bit in fuel efficiency. With the EX, the increase in power is nearly 20% and the attendant improvements in rate of climb, takeoff distance and cruise airspeed are true to form, around 20% or better. Arguably the most noteworthy enhancement is the Caravan's improved climb rate, which has increased very substantially from just under 1,000 feet or 300 meters to 1,275 feet per minute or 389 meters per minute. While there is a slight increase in maximum takeoff weight due to the weight the new engine adds to the airplane, there's also an increase in the payload. Though the Caravan's payload was already so great that many operators were already running out of space before they ran out of weight, a nearly unheard of issue for owners of small planes. The useful load is 3,532 pounds or 1,602 kilograms and the full fuel payload is 1,286 pounds or 583 kilograms. While the previous Grand Caravan needed almost 2,500 feet or 762 meters of runway to take off, the EX needs just 2,160 feet or 658 meters to clear a 50 foot tall obstacle, an improvement of around 20%. Landing distance is 1,836 feet or 560 meters. Landing speeds are nearly identical and a maximum operating altitude is 25,000 feet or 7,620 meters. Range is slightly lower on the EX, but full tanks of gas will get you 832 no wind nautical miles down the road and a maximum range of 912 nautical miles or 1,689 kilometers. So it's unusual to have to top them off. On a typical 90 minute to two hour flight, you can carry an airplane full of passengers and a lot of bags. Some operators will occasionally use the EX for longer flights than that, but it's not a jet. The slow speed of the Caravan when compared to the faster pressurized turboprop singles and light jets has always been the biggest built-in trade-off for the airplane's native strengths of great lifting power and ample space. However, with true air speed of right around 195 knots, the EX is about 15 knots faster than its predecessor. With the cargo pod below, the top speed drops by as much as 10 knots, but it's still up to 15 knots better than the previous brand with the pod. When you're looking at 150 nautical mile flight, the difference between a light jet and a fast enough turboprop like the Grand Caravan EX is minimal. While the cost savings are potentially great, moreover, the size of the EX's interior puts the cabins of most light jets to shame. On longer trips, the greater speeds and higher ceilings of light jets obviate most of the Caravan's advantages. From Boston to Teterboro, the 208B makes sense. From Boston to Atlanta, well, not so much. The base purchase price for the new Grand Caravan EX is $2.7 million before options, and the charter price ranges between $1,600 and $2,000 per hour. Naturally, prices will vary depending on availability, fuel prices, ground fees, and more. While the total fixed cost is roughly $180,000 to $220,000 per year, the average hourly operating cost is estimated at $1,200 to $1,500. Thank you for staying with us till the end. Here are two videos you can watch next. If you enjoyed this video, please make sure to leave a like and a subscribe. Thanks for watching.