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My Cessna 310 By: John Yodice As an owner of a late-model Cessna 310, I'll add my two cents to this story about an older 310. My aircraft, a Turbo 310R, was manufactured in 1981, the last year that 310s were made, which is, incidentally, why I have it. I had owned a 1978 model, and I liked it so that I decided to own one from the last year Cessna made them. Cessna started with a great airplane and continued to introduce upgrades and improvements over the years. The 1981 model was the culmination of all of them. In the more than two decades that I have owned and flown the 1981 version, I have added some improvements, especially in avionics, but none of them suggest that the airplane was anything but capable when it came off the assembly line.
All airplanes are designed with compromises. This airplane has the optimum compromises, for me at least. It is fast, but not the fastest. It has a spacious interior, but not the biggest. It is expensive to operate, but not the most expensive. Initially, I didn't find it the easiest to fly, having owned a relatively easy-to-fly Beechcraft Baron, but when I added MicroAerodynamics vortex generators, directional control and stability at low speeds improved the flying characteristics immensely.
I can get an honest 180 knots true airspeed at about 60-percent power at the middle altitudes, where I fly most. When I need it, I can operate higher, with turbocharging and built-in oxygen, picking up speed and operational flexibility. The cabin is spacious and my nonpilot passengers find it very comfortable. As for expense, I average about 30 gallons an hour, which for the speed is not bad. Maintenance is not bad either, except for some repetitive airworthiness directives issued by a trigger-happy FAA, such as on the exhaust system, which have yet to find a significant problem. I am cautiously following FAA activity on the wing spar that started on some 400-series Cessnas, and threatened to trickle down to the 310s. For the moment the FAA has seemed to back off. I have changed the engines once (they went 1,700 hours on a 1,400-hour time between overhauls) and I have had the airplane painted once (hangared mostly). I've also done minor interior work, though the interior is next on the list for replacement.
As for avionics, I still have most of the original Cessna radios and autopilot. I replaced one nav/com unit. I hope that I am not jinxing myself by saying that I have not experienced the bad reputation that these radios get. My biggest problem is that Cessna does not continue to support them, so that even minor repairs are sometimes troublesome. The autopilot is starting to get a bit cranky and getting good service on that is problematic.
This beautiful, well
maintained, and restored 1955 Cessna 310
N2642C
'55 C-310 is currently owned, and flown by Chuck Jessen, a
California resident
My improvements have made the airplane even nicer to fly. I mentioned the Micro AeroDynamics vortex generators. I made this improvement to pick up a 180-pound increase in gross weight. I was pleasantly surprised by the other benefits that I received in handling characteristics from reduced VMC, VS, and VSO. I added an Insight Gemini engine monitor (a valuable addition to monitor the health of the engines) and a PS Engineering intercom (don't know how I did without it before). My most recent addition, an Avidyne FlightMax EX500, is spectacular. It would take another article to extol the wonders of this instrument.
As you can tell, I am very happy with my airplane. I use it regularly in my law practice. For trips up to 1,000 nautical miles I can usually beat the airlines and use more convenient airports to boot. The current hysteria about security makes using a private airplane more convenient for even longer trips.
I should mention that owning and flying it has been facilitated by my membership in the 310 owners association (now enlarged to include all twin Cessnas) with its publication, The Twin Cessna Flyer. Larry Ball, as editor, continues to provide valuable information, as does Tony Saxton, director of tech support for the association. It relates the shared experiences of many twin Cessna owners, and provides a wealth of expert technical guidance. John Frank and his Cessna Pilots Association are other excellent sources that I rely on.
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