“Growing up, my older brother and I were both always into fast cars and airplanes.
We would go to the Miramar Air Show in San Diego, which was exciting. My brother actually got his license pretty early on and took up flying as a profession,” said Kramer LaPlante, a Citation Mustang owner.
“I said that I had to do the same at some point, which wound up being the same year that I sold my company [MVMT, which manufactures and markets a line of watches and accessories]. It was the perfect time, and I went for it full force towards getting my private pilot’s license.”
LaPlante purchased a 2007 Cessna 206 Turbo Stationair the day after he earned his wings in 2018. This aircraft would serve him well both in its capacity as a training platform and family hauler.
“I had rented during my initial flight training, but knew I wanted something that I could always have access to and would be a good platform for me to continue my growth. I logged about 500 hours during the first couple of years owning the airplane and got my instrument rating in it,” he said.
“It was an awesome airplane, and as a six-seater, I could load it up with a bunch of my friends. We could put all of our snowboards and gear in it and go up to the mountains. It was a turbo, so it was still capable in higher areas.”
LaPlante knew that he ultimately wanted to upgrade to a more capable aircraft, although he wasn’t sure when to make the move and what the next best step would be. Fortunately, he had some other pilots in his corner who had made similar moves in the past and were willing to provide their expertise.
“It was a seamless transition into the Mustang since it had G1000 avionics like my 206 did, so nothing was new there.
“I wasn’t necessarily planning to go directly to a jet from the 206, but I had some aviation mentors. They knew that I would want to upgrade again in the near future, so they told me that I could do a little upgrade, then move into a pressurized plane with a retractable gear, or even a turboprop, or just bite the bullet early and get into the jet right away. Either way, they knew I would end up being there at one time or another. It was a great decision, for sure,” he said.
LaPlante purchased his next plane, a 2008 Citation Mustang, in 2020 after having also considered moving into a Piper Meridian or a Cirrus Vision Jet. “My mentors were big Mustang people, so they obviously kept advocating for it, for many reasons,” he explained.
“I chose the Citation Mustang because, quite simply, it outperformed the competition across the board — and did so at a lower entry price. Compared to options like the Meridian or Vision Jet, the Mustang offered more: two engines for added safety, higher cruising altitude, greater payload capacity, and a significantly more comfortable cabin for six adults. While it does require annual recurrent training, I see that as a benefit. It keeps me sharp and ultimately makes me a better pilot. In the one-to-two-million-dollar range, there’s really nothing that compares. The fact that they also hold their value incredibly well was just the icing on the cake.”
Moving up into the jet was natural for the aviator, largely due to the platforms he had flown previously, Cessnas with Garmin systems.
“It was a seamless transition into the Mustang since it had G1000 avionics like my 206 did, so nothing was new there. The learning curve wasn’t that huge, outside of it being faster and having to get more familiar with different arrivals and things like that. It is a pretty easy airplane to fly.”
LaPlante explained that, in addition to his journey to the flight levels being slightly different than most, his use of the aircraft is unique as well.
“I feel like I took a little bit of a reverse route that most people take to own their own jet. A lot of times, people own one due to business reasons, and the aircraft helps with business. I did the opposite, where I sold my company and then just really wanted something to be able to enjoy and fly, and a lot of my flying is for pleasure,” he said.
“I live in Los Angeles and do a lot of ski trips, and love going to Aspen in the summer and winter. I also go to the lake in Arizona quite a bit, and then a lot of other west coast flights, to places like Tahoe, Mammoth, and even down to San Diego, where my family is. A lot of my flying is shorter trips, and usually there are at least four of us in the plane. On a 200 nautical mile trip, we are usually not going that high – usually in the low 20s and doing around 330 knots true. Fuel burn is around 800 pounds an hour,” he said.
LaPlante estimates that he flies roughly 100 hours per year and has logged approximately 650 hours on the airframe to date. He completes yearly recurrent training both in a simulator and in the aircraft.
“Some of the pros of the airplane are that it’s very easy to fly, and you have a lot of redundant systems. The model has a pretty good maintenance history, and I have hardly ever been AOG. If I do have an issue, usually there is someone on the field who can help troubleshoot. Another cool thing is that it has big storage compartments, nose and aft. There is about 620 pounds in total, and it has a ski shaft in the aft baggage area that comes in handy. The Mustang is an all-around great airplane.”
Everything has its downsides, but LaPlante advises that the light jet is very capable for its size and cost.
“I guess in terms of cons, the aircraft is definitely a little bit limited in power. So, if you want to load it up and go far or go in and out of Aspen in the summer, it’s very limited in terms of takeoff performance. Then, if it is hot or you are loaded up, it takes extra work to get to the higher flight levels. You can obviously always be bigger, faster, and go higher, but in terms of what the airplane is and what it’s supposed to do – I would say it’s kind of beyond expectations,” he said.
“But I think most everyone’s goal is to upgrade, to go further, higher, faster, while carrying more. My ultimate goal would be to fly a Phenom 300, the most capable single-pilot jet. That’s what I would eventually love to strive for, but the Mustang has been great. And being completely self-made and flying my own jet is incredibly special and humbling to me.”
