N431LC

The airframe bearing registration N431LC is a 1974-built Cessna 500 Citation I, serial number 500-0177, manufactured by Cessna. Ownership is recorded to individual owner Alan Araujo, and the aircraft was located in the Dominican Republic where it was stored/confiscated as of February 2022. The airframe carries a United States registration and, as a late 1970s light business jet, presents a record notable for its extended time out of service and associated preservation and regulatory considerations. Its stored/confiscated status is the principal condition highlight affecting airworthiness, maintenance requirements, and potential ferry or export clearance actions.

This airframe is fitted in a typical 5-passenger executive layout with a cabin approximately 3.87 m long, 1.49 m wide, and 1.31 m high, consistent with the model’s standard interior dimensions. Typical mission profiles for the airframe include short- to medium-range executive hops, regional point-to-point transportation, and light charter work within a roughly 1,300 nm radius at high single-engine cruise speeds. Based in the Dominican Republic under its recorded ownership, the aircraft’s operational availability is constrained by its stored/confiscated status, which implies deferred maintenance, potential component preservation requirements, and paperwork or import/export actions before return to service or sale. Maintenance considerations for this specific airplane would include engine preservation checks for the Pratt & Whitney Canada JT15D-1 powerplants, systems corrosion inspections after storage in a tropical environment, and verification of US registry records prior to any ferry flight.

The Cessna 500 Citation I occupies the light business jet niche as an early-generation twinjet offering modest passenger capacity, transregional range, and economical operating profiles for its era. Competitors historically included other light jets with similar five-seat cabins and single-pilot capability; performance highlights are its 357-knot cruise and 41,000 ft ceiling. Market demand for airframes of this vintage tends toward owner-operators and niche charter operators or collectors, with resale values and maintainability strongly affected by maintenance history and storage condition. For this specific airframe, extended storage and the confiscation notation will materially influence maintenance, parts acquisition, regulatory paperwork, and thus resale considerations.