peterdillon wrote:My experience is mostly seaplane so you have a different mission. As far a durability our experience puts the 550 first then the T540 Lyc and the IO520 and lastly the turbo 520. The 520's were certified long ago when they only had to make a percentage of advertised power and the prop efficiency at 2850 rpm is not as great as it is on the 550 or the H model running at 2700 RPM. No matter what the books say there is a huge difference in performance. With the same heavy load at low elevation the G or F model with a 550 will be the first off the water or off your shorter strip mainly due to its lower empty weight and raw HP. Wing X will get you 3800 gross. For that purpose they are probably the most desirable. The bad news is most of those models of 206 were used commercially back in the day and good luck finding a low time, corrosion free, NDH with a low time 550. The H model has the same engine performance with good reliability and the only real issue is empty weight. A lot of that weight is in the interior so with back and or mid row seats out that changes things quite a bit.
A low time minty type G model with a 550 if you can find one is way overpriced to a H model that is 25 years newer in my opinion. Went through that whole scenario last year and went to the H model.

AZ Flyer wrote:I was faced with a similar decision a couple of years ago. Here is my thoughts and experience:

My regular mission is flying from Flagstaff,which in the summer sees 10,000 foot density altitude, to Phoenix and back. … that is for my business, but wanted an airplane to use camping in backcountry strips also.

I ended up finding a corrosion free Hangar queen, which was a 206F model normally aspirated with a factory floatplane kit and Robertson STOL. I replaced the engine and all accessories, I went with an “I owe” 550 and a Voyager prop. My empty weight is 2000 pounds and useful is1600. … an H model would’ve cost another hundred thousand dollars or more and probably have had a midtime engine.

No problem off the pavement in Flagstaff in the middle of summer, I usually fly down to Phoenix with a near full useful load of coffee and cold brew, but return more than half empty, even when it’s 105° in the afternoon, it seems to hop off the runway pretty quickly, my main challenge is cylinder head temperatures, which usually in the summer has me limiting climb rates to around 500 feet per minute.

I initially thought I wanted air-conditioning and was going to get one of the remote ice units for the back. … I may be wrong but when it’s over triple digits, it takes a while for even a car to cool down, I wonder how much more comfortable you would be on the ramp with AC for the first 10 minutes anyways, … even with limiting my climb rate in 10 minutes or so im up at a much cooler altitude, … I never did get around to trying a cooling unit.

If you get an H model with a turbo and AC, you’re gonna have a very heavy bird, besides wing tips, you may want to consider a Sportsman STOL kit

HuskyCountry wrote:

peterdillon wrote:Thanks for the info - are you saying the back seats in the H weigh more than the G model? So maybe the difference isn't much after all. The G I looked at was like 2,209 - newer H models seem to be around 2,350. It seems conceivable that the rear most seat weighs 25lbs more than the G? I'm opening to remove some interior components as well to get it down even further.

mtv wrote:I thought I heard that Cessna took the U-206H to 3800 lbs gross weight. Is that restricted to just the latest models or have I been listening to the wrong people, as usual?

A1Skinner wrote:

mtv wrote:I thought I heard that Cessna took the U-206H to 3800 lbs gross weight. Is that restricted to just the latest models or have I been listening to the wrong people, as usual?

The latest T206H has the higher gross weight, or ones with the flint tips.