Light · ICAO C421

Cessna 421 Golden Eagle

The Cessna 421 Golden Eagle is a pressurised, twin-engine piston aircraft built for owner-pilots and small operators who needed to fly higher and faster than an unpressurised light twin could manage. Its pressurised cabin let it cruise above much of the turbulent weather that smaller aircraft had to fly through or around. It sat at the top of Cessna's piston twin lineup, aimed at business travel before turboprops and light jets became widely affordable. A number remain in private and charter use today, valued for their cabin comfort relative to other piston aircraft of the era.

Cessna 421 Golden Eagle, example photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Alan Wilson from Peterborough, Cambs, UK · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Did you know?

The 421's geared, turbocharged Continental engines give it a distinctive high-pitched sound unlike the direct-drive engines on its 340 and 414 relatives.

Specifications

Length11.1 m (36 ft)
Wingspan12.5 m (41 ft)
Height3.5 m (11 ft)
Maximum passengers6
Persons on board10
Maximum take-off weight3.3 t
Range1,487 NM (2,754 km)
Maximum speed256 kt (474 km/h)
Service ceiling30,200 ft (9,205 m)
Optimum ceiling28,000 ft (8,534 m)
Rate of climb1,940 ft/min (9.9 m/s)
Take-off distance708 m (2,323 ft)
Landing distance728 m (2,388 ft)
Fuel capacity900 l
EnginesGTSIO-520-L
Units built1,916

Curated by CatchFlights from manufacturer documents, ICAO Doc 8643 and reference works; values are left out where no source could confirm them. Sources are listed on our credits page.

In CatchFlights

In CatchFlights the Cessna 421 Golden Eagle starts as a Uncommon catch. The tier is an editorial judgement of how special a sighting of this type is. The more often you catch it, the closer it moves to Common for you.

A catch counts for the manufacturer Cessna, the 421 Golden Eagle family and the model in your collection, and the daily Type Rating quiz asks about the types of each family.

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