Well, I pulled the trigger on a new P-Baron. All I can say is, "wow!" Beech did a phenomenal job on this airplane and I look forward to flying it more.
I enlisted the aid of Don Lawrenz in finding this bird. We must have looked at 20 different ones until we found one that met my needs and didn't come with any extra "baggage." I learned very quick that some sellers stretch the truth in their ads. Don is a "national treasure" with his knowledge of P-Barons and the thoroughness of his inspection (to include a test flight). I saved in the neighborhood of 20 AMU's in exchange for his modest fee. Don helped me work off some of the simple squawks when we got back to his home base, and graciously let me share his hangar while I was completing initial training.
For my initial training (for insurance purposes) I hired Gerry Parker out of Houston. Gerry is an expert on the P-Baron and put me through the paces to get proficient. I'm very glad that I took the training in my plane, rather than going to a simulator course. Gerry is a previous BPPP instructor if anyone needs P-Baron instruction please PM me and I'll shoot you his information.
Finally, I need to recognize Tom Johnson from Airpower Insurance for finding me affordable insurance. This is no small feat considering I had a fresh Multi-Engine rating and about 15 hours in a Baron (non P-Baron) when I came to him.
The plane is a 1982 model, with lots of goodies in it. Engines are about 150 hours each, and the airframe is about 2500 hrs. TT. It performs as least as good as the book (200+ knots at altitude). I think it will last until I'm 100 years old before the airframe life limit is reached.
It won't run LOP (yet). I've got GAMI's on order.
Some of the new equipment (to me anyway):
- Skywatch 497. What a great box! It detects all traffic around me and the locations are dead on. I have TIS on my GTX330 S, but it is limited in coverage and behind the Skywatch.
- Pressurization/Air Conditioning. Never had before, and probably can't go back. For my mission the pressurization is invaluable (over the mountains in the west).
- Avidyne EX500 MFD. I think this is similar to the Garmin GMX200 in functionality. I'm still getting used to the buttonology, but it show charts, approaches, NEXRAD, onboard radar, traffic, and lightning all in one screen. Pretty nice. I did like my old 696 better because of the screen size.
- Aspen Evolution PFD. I took to this box pretty quick, and I have to say I like it. I turned off the airspeed and altitude tapes because I kept staring at the steam gauges anyway. There is an overwhelming possibility of information that can be displayed on the Aspen (too much if you ask me), but it is tailorable to the individual pilot.
Picture below. I've got to start a fund raiser so I can afford to put gas in this thing
Did you see how to land one as I demonstrated it for you 
