Beech Queenair
Owned a couple of 340’s, not enough useful load for commercial use,
flew a Duke for a while… never again
Mu-2 is an awesome bird, flew a Marquise for somebody else
Flew a piper factory 700 Aerostar which was awesome. Found nothing to complain about except that the guy who wanted to sell it to me reniged on the deal and I had to get a lawyer to get back my earnest money.
flew a Duke for a while… never again
Mu-2 is an awesome bird, flew a Marquise for somebody else
Flew a piper factory 700 Aerostar which was awesome. Found nothing to complain about except that the guy who wanted to sell it to me reniged on the deal and I had to get a lawyer to get back my earnest money.
421dog
I didn’t much like the Duke either, probably because I’d been spoiled on 404s and 421s. The A56TC came into my life briefly sometime after the Cessnas and before the Duke. What a rocket ship compared to the usual GA field it was! Despite being unpressurised the A56TC was great fun to fly. IIRC there was no requirement to reduce MAP as you went up so, on survey ops, we used to pre-breathe before takeoff then rattle straight on up to FL250 and above.
Gota tip your hat to the Nav running the show down the back, with no GPS, a drift sight and a Wild RC10 camera to contend with! If the job required a lens change, that was done in the fly too. All very taxing physically, unpressurised up in the flight levels.
Heard a rumour that the RFDS negotiated with Beechcraft to stretch the -55 series to accommodate a stretcher patient, which resulted in the lovely B58. Can anyone confirm this, please?
Back to the thread topic Beech Queenair,
I missed out on flying the Queenair, but I’m told it’s as pleasant to fly was the C90 - which is high praise indeed.
flew a Duke for a while… never again
Gota tip your hat to the Nav running the show down the back, with no GPS, a drift sight and a Wild RC10 camera to contend with! If the job required a lens change, that was done in the fly too. All very taxing physically, unpressurised up in the flight levels.
Heard a rumour that the RFDS negotiated with Beechcraft to stretch the -55 series to accommodate a stretcher patient, which resulted in the lovely B58. Can anyone confirm this, please?
Back to the thread topic Beech Queenair,
I missed out on flying the Queenair, but I’m told it’s as pleasant to fly was the C90 - which is high praise indeed.
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Barons started out with a max gross of around 4200#. They progressed in a non pressurized form to the point that with the G 58 and 58tc you’re up around 5800#, but that limited one with 6 pax to around 58 gallons and an hour with reserves. Miraculously, the B58-P got to 6200#, but for some reason, the wings started falling off, and they life-limited the airframe to 10K hrs. From personal experience, with full fuel, (the one I’m driving while my 421 is still waiting for a new engine) it flies like a rock with me and the clothing and gear it takes me to exist in a hotel as a professional for a couple of weeks.
It is obviously overweight, despite being ok “by the book”
I love my 421. It is a consummate aircraft. I really like other beech twins (even the 18s and T-Bones {gotta like three in the front} ) but 55s, unpressurized B58s and even duchess’ are really nice planes.
It is obviously overweight, despite being ok “by the book”
I love my 421. It is a consummate aircraft. I really like other beech twins (even the 18s and T-Bones {gotta like three in the front} ) but 55s, unpressurized B58s and even duchess’ are really nice planes.
