Kingair Genealogy ?

[PorcoRosso]

Well
am a bit lost in the 90's Series genealogy. C90A, C90B , F90 ...
I have a global picture, but I would like to know more about this serie.
Is there, somewhere, a clear history of the variants, evolutions and upgrades of this wonderful toy ?
Am regularly asked about the one am flying : "Which model is it ? B or A ? " Haven't got a clue, especially when specialist disagree themselves

Mine is a 1979, LJ-867 , Does it ring a bell to you, mighty techies ?

[rotornut]

Well, for a start, the King Air was derived from the piston Queen Air. However, I'll let the more knowledgeable people provide the rest of the details as my information is limited. One thing, however is that the airframes were very well made , according to some of my engineer friends.

[ferrydude]

Bonjour PR!
Although Raytheon may publish the lineage in some pubs, the FAA Type Certificate Data Sheets contain the following;

3A20 Covers--
65 (L-23F), A65, A65-8200, 65-80, 65-A80, 65-A80-8800, 65-B80, 65-88, 65-90, 65-A90, 65-A90-1, (JU-21A, U-21A, RU-21A, RU-21D, U-21G, RU-21H), 65-A90-2, (RU-21B), 65-A90-3, (RU-21C), 65-A90-4 (RU-21E, RU-21H), 70, B90, C90, C90A, E90, H90 (T-44A

65-90 is the beginning of the King Air series, prior numbers are the Queen Airs

A14CE covers--
99, 99A, 99A(FACH), A99, A99A, B99, C99, 100, A100 (U-21F), A100A, A100C, B100

A31CE covers F90 only (Bastard)

A24CE covers--
200 (A100-1 (U-21J)), 200C, 200CT, 200T, A200 (C-12A) (C-12C), A200C (UC-12B), A200CT (C-12D) (C-12F) (RC-12G) (RC-12H) (RC-12K), B200, B200C (C12F) (UC-12F) (UC-12M) (C-12R), B200CT, B200T, 300, B300, B300C, 300LW, 1900, C, D

Hope you find this useful!
LJ-502 through LJ-1062 are C90 models

[None]

A bit about the C90

Sometimes the engines can tell you a lot about what type it is.

I flew LJ-511 (C90) for a while, and it had the PT6A-20s. They had very short exhaust pipes, and very little curvature. This made it easily identifiable because of the exhaust stains along the outboard sides of the nacelles. I also flew the A90 and B90 a few times. While these had the same -20 engines, the engine controls and features were quite different.

The C90A (and straight C90s with a conversion) had the PT6A-21s, and the E90 had the -28s. Those were the better engines (and airplanes) for many reasons. I never flew the C90A or B, and so am not aware of the subtle differences between those two.

[PorcoRosso]

Thank you guys, very useful indeed.

According to that, my aircraft, LJ-867, fitted with PT6-A21, is a C90A.

If anybody knows of a Beechcraft advertisement picture or leaflet, showing all the variants and type, I would be very interested.

Ferrydude , what about this C310 through the atlantic ?

[ferrydude]

Be careful using engine type to identify aircraft, especially with the King Air series. There are so many mods available, Raisbeck, Blackhawk, etc, and most aircraft have been altered in some form or another. Although you may have the equivalent of a C90A, your aircraft came from Beech as a C90 sans A. C90A serials start at LJ-1063. C-310 deal was uninsurable due to age/condition. Just finished a 727 to Middle East. Lots of domestic stuff going on with these blasted Hurricanes, and two more on the way!!! We are up to our arses in alligators.

[IHL]

The first King Air Model 90 serial # LJ-1 rolled off the Beech assembly line Oct 30, 1963. It was certified in March of 64.

That particular aircraft is still flying.

I got the info from the March 2004 Air& Space magazine.

I fly a C90A, One notable difference between the B90 and a
C 90A are engine intakes the C90As use the pitot style intake heated by exhaust gases while the B90 is similar to the 100 intakes and are electrically heated (I think).

[FLEXJET]

http://www.avbuyer.com/Editorial/ray...gAir_May04.pdf

PorcoRosso, yours is a C90 for me.

[His dudeness]

65-90 LJ1-LJ113 1964-1966
65-A90 LJ114-317 1966-1967
A90-1 LM-LM141 1967-1971
A90-2 LS1-LS3 1967
A90-3 LT1-LT2 1967
A90-4 LU1-LU16 1971
B90 LJ318-LJ501 1968-1970
C90 LJ502-1010 less LJ986 LJ996 1971-1982-
C90-1 LJ986,LJ996 LJ1011-1062 1982-1983
C90A LJ1063-1299 less LJ1288,LJ1295 1984-1992
C90B LJ1288,LJ1295,LJ1300 1992
E90 LW1-LW347 1972-1981
F90 LA2-LA201, LA203,LA204 1979-1983
F90-1 LA202, LA205-LA237 1983-1986

Source: Beechcraft - Pursuit for perfection

ISBN 0-911139-11-7

[PorcoRosso]

Excellent !

That's an answer !

So, according to your sources, LJ-867 is a C90.
That's what I wanted to know

Many thanks indeed.
I will try to find the book

thanks guys !