Beech Baron
 

Just wondering if anyone knows the aerodynamic reason behind the Beech Baron 55 being certified to use flap on take off, whereas the 58 is not?

Cheers
O&G

It isn't a certification or aerodynamic thing it is just ar$e covering thing.

Years ago use of flap on takeoff was recognised as increasing the aircrafts utility balanced against the almost vanishingly small increased risk of having an engine failure airborne in that configuration.

As we moved into an era of product liability lawsuites and enormous payouts that all changed.

The model 55 went out of production about this time thus it's AFMs remained in a timewarp whereas the 58 is still being built so it's AFM was updated with the new 'thinking'.

A very good question! I have wondered that myself.

If you ever have a need to get a Baron out of a short strip (ie when you land on an 800 m strip on a cattle station in the Kimberley and have multiple close encounters with ant hills in the middle of the strip):

1) lower 10 degrees of flap
2) conduct a max performance TO
3) pull it off the ground at 60 kts
4) let it accelerate in ground effect to Vs for max angle of climb
6) retract the gear
7) retract the flap

It is amazing just how little runway you need!

but ......... if you loose a donk just after you pull it off the ground - I suspect it will roll onto it back before you know what's happening.

Dr:cool:

PG - that's an interesting observation. I confess my experience with that particular 'trick' is with the 55, but I had assumed it would work as well with the 58.

Dr:cool:

Acelerate/go
 

The B55C actually had an acelerate/go chart which gives distance required to get to 50 feet if you have an engine failure at liftoff. It's a long way,