Unique utility—on land or water

Ideally, that new muscularity also brings a smoother, more reliable engine with a longer time between overhauls, a higher payload, and a reversible propeller for short landings, and burns jet fuel to avoid any uncertainty regarding the future supply of leaded avgas. This, in sum, is the Soloy Cessna 206 turbine conversion’s reason for being.

“It’s a niche airplane that’s just perfect for some very specific missions,” said Gabe Bagstad, chief pilot and marketing manager for NorthPoint Aviation in Brainerd, Minnesota, which bought the Soloy supplemental type certificates for the Cessna 206 Stationair and Beech Bonanza A36 in 2024. “Many of our customers for the turbine 206 are law enforcement agencies, border patrol, pipeline patrol, skydiving operations, and as well as individual owner/operators.”

The conversions take a legacy Cessna 206 Stationair manufactured in 1999 or later and replace its 300-horsepower piston engine with a 450-horsepower Rolls-Royce turboprop that transforms the six-seat aircraft into a Daher Kodiak or Cessna 208 Caravan “mini-me.”

The Soloy turbine conversion is much more than an engine swap, however. It also brings a long list of airframe modifications and structural reinforcements and takes about 2,000 shop hours to complete. Many customers combine the engine change with avionics and interior upgrades. Others add amphibious floats. The resulting turbine 206 is a far more capable, reliable, and higher performing aircraft in just about every way that still flies like a Stationair.

Blustery day

The turbine 206 has a longer, sleeker shape than the original due to its extended snout. The Rolls-Royce engine is about 170 pounds lighter than the piston engine it replaces, so it moves forward on a new engine mount for center-of-gravity purposes.

Opening the cowl to connect the aircraft battery shows the compact engine at the front end and lots of open space in front of the firewall, a feature that makes the engine and its accessories easier to work on. A three-blade, full-feathering metal propeller turns about 2,000 rpm in cruise, and that low figure reduces interior and exterior noise.

The airplane we’re flying is a “Sentinel” model made for law enforcement and has a swiveling chair in back for a sensor operator. Cockpit entry is through the left door since there is no right door. A right door is an option, primarily for seaplanes. Avionics for the turbine 206 range from old-school analog to Garmin glass, primarily G500 primary flight displays/multifunction displays and GTN 750s.

Strapping in is standard Cessna with an automotive-style lap/shoulder belt, and visibility over the tall panel is adequate but not expansive. The turbine 206 doesn’t have a traditional power quadrant. The power and condition controls are push/pull knobs instead of levers.

Engine start begins with confirming sufficient battery power, pushing the start switch, and introducing fuel via the condition knob. The sound of the turbine spinning, ignitors firing, and propeller turning will bring a sense of déjà vu to helicopter pilots because it’s indistinguishable from that of a Bell Jet Ranger which uses the same engine.

It’s a blustery day in central Minnesota with the wind out of the south at 20 knots gusting to 31 as we taxi to Runway 16 for takeoff. Runup is standard turboprop with a prop overspeed check, flaps set to 20 degrees, and the fuel selector on both tanks. We’ve got three people aboard and 60 gallons of jet fuel, and the density altitude is 3,300 feet as we line up for a maximum-effort takeoff.

Full engine power requires moderate right rudder pressure during the takeoff roll as the airplane accelerates briskly. We reach the 62-knot rotation speed and lift off after a ground roll of six seconds and about 500 feet.

Once airborne, a 15-degree pitch attitude at 85 KIAS nets a climb rate of 2,000 feet per minute. We make our crosswind turn at 3,000 feet agl and reach 5,000 feet on downwind. It’s obvious why the turbine 206 is popular among skydiving operations because it climbs so rapidly in such a confined area.

We find smooth air at 6,500 feet and let the airplane accelerate to its normal cruise speed of 170 KTAS at 70 percent power while consuming 23 gallons of jet fuel per hour. This particular airframe is draggier than most due to a bulky forward-looking infrared radar on the left wing and no wheel fairings, yet it’s basically flying as fast as a piston Bonanza.The turbine 206 has unique capabilities—and it’s likely to find new adherents domestically and internationally as the market for nonpressurized, single-engine utility airplanes expands.

“I do most of my cross-country flying at 10,000 to 12,000 feet and about 175 knots true,” Bagstad says. “That gives me a solid four hours of endurance.”

At 18,000 feet, the airplane’s true airspeed rises to 185 knots. The turboprop’s flying characteristics appear unchanged from the piston version. Its pitch and roll forces are moderate to heavy depending on the amount of deflection the pilot induces. If a Cessna 182 Skylane flies like a Ford F-150 pickup truck, the 206 Stationair is a Ford F-350. The turbine 206 is exceptionally stable and well balanced throughout its normal speed range. Full aileron deflection at 120 KIAS produces a maximum roll rate of about 35 degrees per second, so it takes about 2.5 seconds to bank 90 degrees.

In slow flight, the turbine 206 stall with engine power at idle takes place at a crawl: Just 29 KIAS (or 54 KCAS), and the stall itself is benign with instantaneous recovery as soon as the angle of attack decreases.

Bagstad recommends a 70-knot approach speed and one notch of flaps before landing due to the gusty surface wind. We approach at 70 KIAS and about 20 foot-pounds of torque, and a normal flare at idle power has the main wheels touching down at 56 KIAS. Flattening the prop to zero pitch produces a rapid deceleration, and the airplane stops in less than 1,000 feet with light braking. Reverse thrust and hard braking typically produce ground rolls of 500 feet or less, Bagstad says.

“The shortest runways I go in and out of are about 2,000 feet long,” he says. “That’s more than enough for a turbine 206 and doesn’t require anything special in terms of pilot technique. It’s an outstanding short-field airplane.”

Mini-me

Soloy produced about 125 turbine 206s since it started doing piston-to-turbine conversions in Olympia, Washington, in the mid-1980s.

NorthPoint Aviation recently bought the supplemental type certificate for the turbine 206 and does all the work in house, including avionics and interior upgrades. The company sees the turbine 206 as a way to deliver similar speed and short-field capability to that of a larger PT6A-powered Kodiak or Caravan at a lower price, although that’s not an apples-to-apples comparison.

Converted 206s aren’t brand-new airplanes, and they have fewer seats and less payload than a Kodiak or a Caravan. But they offer a compelling value to customers with highly specialized mission profiles. And other nonpressurized turboprops have shown there’s a market for utility airplanes that burn jet fuel both domestically and abroad where avgas can be difficult to find or prohibitively expensive.

“Also, a turbine 206 fits in a standard T-hangar,” Bagstad says. “That’s a big plus to some of our customers.”

About 30 percent of the turbine 206s produced to date have been placed atop amphibious floats, and NorthPoint says the power and payload that make the turbine Stationair a highly capable utility airplane also allow it to shine on the water.

Amphibious versions mostly use Wipaire 3450 floats, and the one flown in the photos that accompany this story has won top awards at the Greenville International Seaplane Fly-In in Maine in both short-takeoff competitions and overall workmanship.

There’s no way around the economic reality that a conversion to turbine power is frightfully expensive. In the Soloy case, a new Rolls-Royce engine alone typically sells for more than $800,000, and the many hours of skilled labor required for the installation put the total price tag of the turbine 206 conversion at about $1.1 million. Add new avionics, paint, and an interior and the cost and calendar time rise accordingly. With amphibious floats and a right-side co-pilot door, the “full monty” conversion and upgrades can easily reach $2 million—and that doesn’t include the original price of the airframe itself.

Those are big numbers, but the delta between a turbine 206 and its larger competitors is also wide and growing. The turbine 206 has unique capabilities—and it’s likely to find new adherents domestically and internationally as the market for nonpressurized, single-engine utility airplanes expands. Look for them at backcountry, high-altitude, and remote airstrips all over the planet.

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