"Frank Ch. Eigler" wrote in message
...

"Bob Gardner" writes:

Solo time is required for the commercial certificate, and there is
no way in the world that an insurance company will cover you in a
twin without hundreds of hours of twin time. [...]

This is simply not correct. Insurance will be of course more
expensive than for a c172, but on the smaller twins and private use,
is indeed available. Through a Canadian broker, Lloyd's started
covering me with just 70 hours on type (pa23-250). I gather from
other posts that, despite speculation of the cognoscenti, the actual
USA situation is not much worse.

A 421 has more in common with a B-17 than it does with an Aztec. Think of it
as a twin turboprop without any of the systems automation. The major
attraction is that you can buy a lot of performance for pretty short money
up front, particularly a year or so back when the wing spar AD was hanging
over everyone's head. But you'll probably pay it all back out in operating
costs eventually. At least if you buy a Cheyenne or MU-2 you get the comfort
of turbine reliability, all the more so considering how little you want to
lose an engine in a 421.

-cwk.