Beech C23

[BeechNut]

Any other Beech C23 (Sundowner) drivers/owners here?

Mine's a high-time '79, aerobatic certified, 180 hp Sundowner. Loads of fun, bit slow (105 KIAS at 2400 rpm, can true out to about 115-120 knots at higher altitude and 75%)

[BigEndBob]

Have flown a sport, under powered, only tricycle aircraft i managed to ground loop in a x/wind, horrible rudder aileron interconnect, once told " i see the wings haven't come off yet", but very comfy!

[yawningdog]

I've flown the Sundowner with a view to joining a group. I loved the interior size & the opening side doors. Felt like a good IFR machine. Cruise seemed a bit slower than what the owner was suggesting. Slight worry about landing accident statistics due to PIO. I'm sure its OK when one becomes used to the aircraft.

I liked it but decided against it based upon performance.

[Malcolm G O Payne]

I operated the first Beech 23 on the flying club scene in 1964. We did have some problem with directional control and wheel-barrowing, which we put down to the suspension system using rubber in compression rather than more conventional oleos, which had more give.

[BeechNut]

Thanks for sharing your stories. To be honest I have found the C23 to be the easiest ever plane to land, as long as you go by the book and stick to the numbers. Crosswind landings are easy if you use the crab-in method. The aircraft seems to like a nice stabilized 75 knot approach (2 notches of flaps) or 68 knots (three notches). You don't try to fly it on, but instead hold it off until the stall honker starts screeching, and then she plops gently on the mains. In crosswind, I transition from crab to the wing-low method in the flare.

Part of the landing issues are due to the nose-forward CofG when heavy on fuel and empty in the back. Mine, being an aerobatic certified model, has some extra kit in the tail (mainly an extra ventral fin to increase effective vertical stabilizer area, for spin recovery). Perhaps this helps somewhat, I read in Aviation Consumer that the aero-certified models seem to be easier to land.

I do appreciate the comfort. It's not horrendously fast but even with 10,000 hours on the airframe and 1400 on the Lycoming O360, my "loafing cruise" is 100-105 knots at 2350 rpm. If I want to cruise at 75% power, I can easily fetch 115-120 knots true at higher altitude, book says up to 124 at 75%; up to 126 if flat out (88%) at 2500 ft, but fuel burn is a horrendous 13.2 USG/hour. At my normal "have fun on Saturday morning" cruise settings, I burn 9-10 gal/hour.

I sold a PA28-140E to buy this bird and so far I have no regrets, a very solid (typical Beech) machine.

[PhilD]

Sorry to wake this topic up again, but I'm interested in buying a Sundowner as a 180hr fixed gear alternative to an Archer or AA5B, and wondered if there are any southern UK-based pilots out there with one that I could take a look at.