Hi all,

I've been reading the forum for several months now, but not as a member. I realized that it's not quite as interesting if I can't see the pics that are being posted in various threads. I finally joined recently, and it's great to be able to see the pics that go along with some of the stories.

I fly for a regional airline out west; I don't own a Beechcraft, and I'm not currently in the market for one. I do have a fair amount of time in several Beech models. Back in '90/'91, I worked for Tarron Bhomas as a ferry pilot, and I flew some usual and unusual types for that guy. I was lucky enough to ferry two different 56TCs. I flew N680PC (TG-24) from VIS to DAL; that was a nice airplane, and a fun trip. It had O2 on board, so I took it to FL230 on the TUS-MAF leg. Then there was N6268V (TG-52), which I flew from DFI to EVV. It wasn't quite as nice, and while enroute to DAL, I had to shut down the right engine and land at EVV. Tarron had another project for me to do, so I left 68V in EVV and I never saw it again. I wonder what ever happened to those 56s? I also flew a clapped-out 65 Queen Air from DAL to MDW on a ferry permit. The one operable generator quit working on the UIN-MDW leg, so I landed at MDW using a hand-held com radio after cranking the landing gear down manually...and then the right engine flamed out on final due to a mixture problem. Fun stuff for a guy with 1100 hours in the logbook. I was delivering that ship to an A&P school for use as a training aid, so it never flew again.

My next gig was hauling cancelled checks for USCheck, long before they became known as AirNet Systems. I flew the BE-58 for 3 years and almost 2200 hours. I loved flying the Baron...it makes a great freighter with those big side doors and a decent sized nose compartment. That was some of the most fun flying I've ever done.

AirNet ran into financial problems and shut down several years ago. The Baron fleet was put up for sale, but there wasn't much interest for most of the higher time airframes. A number of them were eventually flown to White Industries in Bates City MO for parting out. I had a trip to Kansas City back in 2013 and I drove out to Bates City to see some of my old airplanes. It was a sad sight to see.



My favorite and most-flown Baron was N1653W (TH-252), which retired with 22,820 hours on the airframe. I flew 930.7 of those hours. The avionics were basic: KX-170s and no HSI, but it had a CIII autopilot that sometimes worked, and an RDR-160 radar that worked fairly well. It was fully de-iced including a hot-plate, and it had a rotating beacon on the belly that made it look like a little airliner. I made one single-engine landing in it one night after the left crankshaft chucked a counterweight through the top of the crankcase. Yay for two engines!


I remember when that paint job was fresh from the shop back in '91. I wanted to buy one of the yokes from 53W, but they were already sold. I was able to get the "Baron" emblem off the right cowling, and I got the "58" emblem from behind the cargo door. The guy at White gave me 53W's POH for free. They had a whole box of Baron flight manuals and no idea what to do with them.

I flew 100.2 hours in N58WA. It had an ugly white/yellow/green paint job back then.

I flew 162.8 hours in N26CC. I didn't like that one very much. It had two-blade props at the time, didn't look as cool. It also had the smaller 136 gallon fuel tanks, which didn't work as well for my particular route. The worst part was the alcohol prop/windshield anti-ice system. I remember shooting a low ILS into LBB on a winter night, and the alcohol tank ran empty while I was picking up ice. Not cool.


I never flew this one, but it has the newer AirNet paint job.


I flew 34.1 hours in N9189Q. For some reason, it never received the USCheck or AirNet paint.


I flew 30.5 hours in N9367Q, and it was the last Baron I flew when I left USC for my 1st regional airline gig.


I flew 91.3 hours in N4098S. What I remember about this ship is joining the Mile High Club between OKC and DAL with the girl I was dating at the time. She was a good sport, and I'm glad the autopilot worked!


There's another AirNet Baron that I never flew. It's hard to believe how many airplanes are scattered around Bates City. I wish I'd had time to crawl around all of them.


Geez, I do tend to ramble sometimes. The reason I've been reading BT recently is to find info on possible ADS-B solutions for an airplane that I've gotten into a partnership on. Last February I got into an LLC and with four other guys we bought a T-28F Fennec:


It hasn't flown since 2011 and it's 7 months into an extensive annual/condition inspection. We hope to fly it someday...maybe October?

A useful BT thread has been "Bendix/King pulls a Narco" on the Panel Talk section. The airplane has a 1986 state-of-the-art King Silver Crown package, and we're curious about how difficult it will be to repair whatever radios aren't working.


We'll keep the panel as it is, except for the Argus moving maps. Eventide doesn't do avionics anymore, and the Argus isn't supported. They don't even power-up anymore, so we'll remove the units from both cockpits and have a really cool paperweight on the desk.

I didn't realize that I had typed so much. Sorry about that! I'm glad to be here and hope to learn a little bit from you guys.

Welcome to BT, Jim. Great first post! Thanks for the pics and stories.

Jim, welcome to BT, Love the stories and Pics, I got a few parts from White Industries over the years, did you happen to see a Baron with a missing cargo door?

Welcome to BT Jim.
Wow, interesting stories.
If you were a cat, you would have already used a few of your nine lives it seems...
Enjoy your new plane!

Welcome to BT, Jim!

If you've indeed been perusing these pages prior to joining last month, you probably are aware that there are many members who don't fly Beech. Although the majority of posts are about Beech, there's plenty out here with regard to just flying in general - regs, IFR, crashes, and so many other things that we can all learn from.

I loved reading your intro and look forward to hearing more about some of your experiences.

Loved the pics, too, although some of those "abandoned" birds brought a tear to my eye.

Doc

Welcome Jim! What great pictures and background information, thanks for posting!

Welcome, Jim! I love the pictures and stories.

Welcome and WOW, that's a winning first post.

Great pictures.




-Mark

Welcome aboard Jim! Great pics and stories and I definitely agree with you about how great a well-functioning autopilot can be when the need to use it arises!

Thanks for the welcome, gentlemen.


It was sad to see so many airplanes forlorn and abandoned, stripped of so many parts. It's odd to think that at one point, that Sabreliner or Lear 25 was brand new and the pride of the corporate fleet. And that Cessna 310 or Piper Arrow was just off the dealer's ramp and pampered by a proud businessman. But time moves on, and airplanes time-out and become too expensive to maintain. Off into the weeds they go.

The gentleman at White Industries that drove me around told me about a guy that flew for a corporation that bought a new Citation in the mid/late-70s. He picked it up at the factory and flew it for about 30 years. He then flew it to Bates City for parting out. That must have been a tough final flight. The company had a special plaque made for him with the control column and yoke. Nice touch.

On a similar topic, I found the remains of two more ex-AirNet Barons on eBay. Here's N95BB, which I never flew:


And there's not much left of N858LG. I've got 39.3 hours in that one. I'm not sure why anyone would buy just the forward and tail section, but they've got it listed anyway.


Maybe the wife would let me buy it and keep it in the back yard?

Put some wheels on it and turn it into a car!

It sounded like you had a great girlfriend!!!

Wow- that's one helluva intro!

Welcome

Hi, Jim. I know this is an old post, but having just joined BT recently, I just found the post. I worked night shift maintenance for PDQ/US Check/Airnet for 20 years at CMH and LCK. Seeing the pics of all the Barons was a trip down very old memory lane. I worked on all of those planes many, many times. Some of them, I remember when they were purchased as passenger haulers and were dragged into the hangar to be “canned”.