Beech duchess comments?

Kyler Laird wrote:

Wouldn't a Seneca be a bit more appropriate and less expensive than a
Baron?

It depends on which Seneca... there are big differeneces in the different
model years of Senecas.

The Duchess is a very nice handling twin, with an excellent
electrical dual bus system. It has real redundancy although
it does not have automatic load shedding. The engines are
nearly bullet-proof. Two cabin doors and good sized baggage
door make loading nice. There is no nose baggage
compartment. You can install radar. It has plenty of
elevator and rudder and is very easy to recover. Beech
actually did the full spin test series, but decided not to
certify for intentional spinning. But it will recover if
you're ham fisted enough to get into a spin.

The airplane pretty decent single-engine performance for a
non-turbo light piston twin. The engine nacelles are trim
enough it flies well on either engine. The Piper light twin
carries the fuel in gigantic nacelles tanks, Piper didn't
want to change the Cherokee much, as a result there is a lot
of drag between the nacelles and fuselage. Piper also did
not increase the size or arm on the tail, so it doesn't have
the range the Duchess has.

The Baron will be much more expensive to operate whether
you're talking insurance, fuel or maintenance.

The only bad thing about the Duchess is no nose baggage and
only four seats. The aft compartment is big.

I'd like to have two of them, one factory standard and one
on amphibious floats and 220 hp engines.



--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

wrote in message
...
| I've contemplating buying my first plane.
|
| C182 is almost perfect for what Iwant to do with the
plane.
| alas the last few flights have had some significant
overwater legs.
| CRQ-AVX-SBA
| I also want to be able to comfortably return home after
dark.
|
| Thus I was thinking about a light twin, something like a
barron or
| C310 would be nice, but getting a really nice one is
probably
| streching my budget.
|
| I'll usually be carrying about 400 lbs of people, pilot
and bags.
|
| I see a bunch of duchess for sale around the same price as
a similarly
| equipped 182.
|
|
| The simple engines with 2000 TBO and no boots, hot [props
etc...
| should make the costs a bit lower than the 310 or B58
|
| Any comments from people that have owned one?
|
| Any comments from anyone that uses one in a flight school
(seems to be
| the most common MEL trainer)
|
| Paul

As a confirmed twin driver let me play spoiler here... I am always
amazed at the way we worry about the boogy man -a single over water -
and ignore the true and present danger - a single over land where the
obstructions WILL kill you... It is flying a single over trees and
cities, and junk yards, and power lines, and fence lines, and rocks,
and abutments, that scares the crap out of me... That is why I fly a
twin...
Most water landings are survived and if they die it is from being
unable to stay afloat... Simply wearing an automatic inflating PFD
while flying over water will eliminate the immediate drowning
problem... These are small, comfortable, and not horribly expensive
thanks to the volume of the boating market - unlike airplanes...

denny

As a confirmed twin driver let me play spoiler here... I am always
amazed at the way we worry about the boogy man -a single over water -
and ignore the true and present danger - a single over land where the
obstructions WILL kill you... It is flying a single over trees and
cities, and junk yards, and power lines, and fence lines, and rocks,
and abutments, that scares the crap out of me... That is why I fly a
twin...
Most water landings are survived and if they die it is from being
unable to stay afloat... Simply wearing an automatic inflating PFD
while flying over water will eliminate the immediate drowning
problem... These are small, comfortable, and not horribly expensive
thanks to the volume of the boating market - unlike airplanes...

In the daytime I believe that you can find somewhere to land
and miss the ground hazards,
at night I agree with you completly, and that is why I'm thinking
small twin.

Paul

I looked at big singles versus twins for the same reasons, and since I live
on Lake Michigan and travel east quite a bit, I chose a twin. The redundancy
goes beyond just the engines, and includes dual vacuum pumps as well as
electrical systems.

Of course, this also means that there is double the maintenance on these
items, and double the chance of something breaking. You should not buy any
airplane unless you can also afford to maintain it- patching stuff with wire
and duct tape is the first step toward having a catastrophic chain of events
occur at an inopportune time.

I did most of my training in an Aztec, and then flew a Baron. The Aztec has
bigger engines, but is slower. It did not have the solid feeling of a Beech
product, but parts are a lot less expensive. Finally decided on a B-55
Baron, and it is heavily equipped with known ice, radar, stormscope, etc. It
gives a lot of flexibility, and still has a full tank useful load of 760
pounds, with a cruise of 175 knots. The IO-470 engines are solid, but fuel
burn is around 25 gph. Even a short trip for lunch comes with a gas bill of
around $300.

Again, the most important issue is to never scrimp on maintenance- these are
complicated airplanes, and trying to save money by postponing repairs is
short sighted.

There are no B55 Barons certified for known ice, only the
58P and 58TC are certified, if they have the electric
windshield plate and all other required equipment.
http://www.controller.com/listings/f...E C805BCAF89D
lists a G58 as "known ice" for over a million and quarter.





"Viperdoc" wrote in message
...
|I looked at big singles versus twins for the same reasons,
and since I live
| on Lake Michigan and travel east quite a bit, I chose a
twin. The redundancy
| goes beyond just the engines, and includes dual vacuum
pumps as well as
| electrical systems.
|
| Of course, this also means that there is double the
maintenance on these
| items, and double the chance of something breaking. You
should not buy any
| airplane unless you can also afford to maintain it-
patching stuff with wire
| and duct tape is the first step toward having a
catastrophic chain of events
| occur at an inopportune time.
|
| I did most of my training in an Aztec, and then flew a
Baron. The Aztec has
| bigger engines, but is slower. It did not have the solid
feeling of a Beech
| product, but parts are a lot less expensive. Finally
decided on a B-55
| Baron, and it is heavily equipped with known ice, radar,
stormscope, etc. It
| gives a lot of flexibility, and still has a full tank
useful load of 760
| pounds, with a cruise of 175 knots. The IO-470 engines are
solid, but fuel
| burn is around 25 gph. Even a short trip for lunch comes
with a gas bill of
| around $300.
|
| Again, the most important issue is to never scrimp on
maintenance- these are
| complicated airplanes, and trying to save money by
postponing repairs is
| short sighted.
|
|
|

My B-55 is certified for known ice by STC with TKS weeping wings. It does
not require the 400 series vacuum pumps, does not lose airspeed, and does
not require periodic replacement like boots.

And you have electric props and windshield? What is the STC
number?



"Viperdoc" wrote in message
...
| My B-55 is certified for known ice by STC with TKS weeping
wings. It does
| not require the 400 series vacuum pumps, does not lose
airspeed, and does
| not require periodic replacement like boots.
|
|

The plane uses the prop slinger hardware for the old alcohol props, and has
a spray bar for the windshield. If you want to know the STC number you can
Google on TKS or call them (Aerospace Systems and Technologies) yourself.