Robert M. Gary writes:

The whole thing is sad. The fact that Piper beat Beech to announce a
jet tells you something. With the King Air line up, it would have been
a shoe in to get attention by offering a jet. I tend to agree with
others that its likely too late at this point. Probably just another
example of a company that found a winning formula 30 years ago and
never had the courage to change with the times. We see it all the time,
companies run into the ground because they are afraid of change.

It may just be a pricing and marketing issue. Several of the aircraft
Beech produces are just as viable today as they were 40 years ago.
Not everyone wants a jet. Aviation is safety-oriented, and being
conservative is very safe. You may not have all the bells and
whistles, but you know exactly what you have, and what it can and
cannot do. Just look at the ancient engine designs in use--they are
probably inferior to modern engines, but they are a known quantity,
whereas introducing something completely new is risky in a domain
where a failure can easily kill people.

I rather like the idea of something so stable that it can continue for
decades and still fulfill its purpose admirably. I wish some other
domains (such as computers) were that way. It's simpler and more
economical.

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