The Cessna 425, known as the Corsair and later as the Conquest I, is an American pressurized turboprop twin-engine light utility monoplane. It was designed as a simple-to-fly and easy-to-transition turboprop aircraft of Cessna produced from 1980 to 1986.
In 1980, the Cessna 425 was introduced to compete with the Beechcraft King Air. It was a development of the Cessna 421, equipped with two 450-horsepower Pratt and Whitney PT6 engines. The aircraft was designed to be very easy to fly and was remarked by reviewers for its roomy cabin with large windows for better visibility and convenient seats.
In September 1978, the first prototype took its maiden flight, and by mid-1980, it was granted the Federal Aviation Administration certificate. Initially known as the Corsair, it was renamed into the Conquest I in 1983 due to customer requests for additional cabin space and an increase in maximum takeoff weight. The horizontal stabilizer employed a remarkable dihedral to minimize its prop wash exposure, and the retractable landing gear was strengthened to support the increase in landing weight and ramp weight.
The Cessna 425 Conquest I is a light, pressurized aircraft configured as a cantilever low-wing monoplane with a conventional tail and an aluminum monocoque airframe. It has an exterior length of 10.92 meters, a height of 3.84 meters, and a fuselage diameter of 1.55 meters. The wingspan is 13.4 meters, the wing area is 20.90 square meters, and the wheelbase is 3.2 meters. The aircraft can be equipped with different seating configurations, normally for six to seven passengers. The cabin has a length of 3.2 meters, a height of 1.3 meters, and a width of 1.4 meters.
Most Conquest I’s were initially fitted with a 1000-series Cessna avionics system, incorporating dual comm radios, dual navs, dual transponders, dual automatic direction finding (ADF), dual distance measuring equipment (DME), and an autopilot. The aircraft is also equipped with Collins avionics, incorporating dual VHF 20A comms, dual VIR-30A navs, ADF 60, DME 40, flight instrument system, horizontal situation indicator, Sperry 1000 autopilot, and WXR-300 weather radar systems.
The Conquest I is powered by two PT6A-112 engines rated at 450 horsepower each driving three-bladed Hartzell 9910438-1 or McCauley 9910535-1 constant-speed propellers. The aircraft has a maximum speed of 265 knots and a range of 1,646 nautical miles.
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