Meijer's owns this and uses it to move folks around their market area. Best I could tell it had PT6's. Odd shape and when I ran the tail number comes back as experimental. Tail feathers have winglets pointed down..

Speed and useful? I'm sure it's simple and I'm dense. What type is it. Guess I'm surprised they can use an experimental for business or rather that they decided to.

http://www.meijer.com

1999 RAYTHEON AIRCRAFT COMPANY 1900D
Fixed wing multi engine

Answered but I've still not noticed this type before???

Beech 1900D
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beechcraft_1900

Looks like a Beech 1900...could be wrong.

Just a standard Beech 1900D or "Flipper" as it was called at the Regionals. The nose and all the fins kind of made it look dolphins-ish.

The registration shows normal/standard category but the engine is listed as experimental. Could just be a coding mistake or it could have a modification or data logging that someone is doing for something STC wise?

Speed? Red line was 247kts on the 1900C that I flew for a bit and it had the lower roof line so it cruised a few knots faster than the Ds. did. 200 kts or better true. Useful, alot. Something north of 5k pounds. I just don't remember right now. Since it was a short hop plane, at least in the Northeast where I was flying it, you traded fuel for payload and many of our planes did not have the aux tanks on them and they were only good for 2.5-3 hrs of flight time. Not a big deal when all your legs were in the .5 to 1.5 hr range.

Yup...1900 D Model. Stand-up cabin version of the 1900C introduced in the early 1990s. Most of the commuters, as they were called then, were moving away from the J-balls (Jetstream 31/32s) and Metroliners to something a little bit more comfortable, and this was Beech's answer.

Odd looking cabin from the inside. The D, like the C, had a bunch of funny stuff hanging off the tail to make it fly right, each had it's own little ice boot. The C had 1100 per side, and the Ds had something like 1250.

Never flew the D, but the Cs were pretty quick. Trued out about 260 or so and grossed out at 16,600. Great AC (both air cycle and vapor), and ours had the brake de-ice, which was awesome up north for frozen brakes.

Once the RJ boondoggle started, they were doomed.

Best,
Rich

Is this the bird that was very good in ice up around the Great Lakes?

I think it's a male plane.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/gnMUvrspd7I[/youtube]

Our N,P,Q, and X model RC-12's in the Army were essentially 1900D wings, engine, and tail section grafted to a 200 fuselage with a large cargo door added in.

The horizontal elements are stabilons and taillets are at the end of the horizontal stabilizer.


As far as the 1900D is concerned I seem to remember very few had autopilots. Pretty much hand flew it all the time.

I heard the joke that Beech had to stop building them when they ran out of surfaces to hang additional airflow modifying devices onto.

Hello Chuck Taylor,







That there is a Beech 1900 D. It is a stretched derivative of the King Air.

I flew that aircraft along with the C model for Mesa Airlines from 1995 to 1998.

I have about 3000 hrs in the 1900 D.



At one time it was beechcrafts # 1 build.

It was a great aircraft to fly. Very powerful and very fast. I remenber a TAS of over 270 kts for the 1900D.

I don't remember the UL, but we often carried 19 passengers plus their bags with part 121 fuel reserves from the high and hot that was the southwest. I flew it mostly in New Mexico, Arizona, Texas and California.

And yes, "Flipper" was a common name given to the 1900.

Mesa ordered the large majority of them, and none of ours had autopilot. All hand flown.



A great and fun aircraft to fly.

Interesting.

I bet that cut down on the maintenance bills and resulted in some really sharp pilots who could trim very precisely.

Mike C.

Back in the olde days it was rare for a commuter airline to have autopilots on their turboprops.

Beech 99s, 1300s, 1900s Metroliners, Jetstreams etc rarely were autopilot equipped.

So a pilot who had 2000 hours of commuter time had 2000 actual hours of flying, whereas today, that same pilot, with 2000 logged hours, has 50 hours of actual hand flying.

That could explain a lot.

Mike C.

So a pilot who had 2000 hours of commuter time had 2000 actual hours of flying, whereas today, that same pilot, with 2000 logged hours, has 50 hours of actual hand flying.

That could explain a lot.

Mike C.