1980 Beech Duke: Late Production B-60 (sn: P-525)

Make an offer - owner is motivated!

Low time cams, Just passed inspection - sumps dropped! Price Includes a fresh annual.

Based in Colorado since early 2000's, Early life in New Zealand and Finland.

This Duke belongs to a retired corporate pilot who decided he just doesn't enjoy general aviation as much as needed to enjoy this Duke. He and the previous owner have based it in the same hangar at the Denver Metro / Jeffco airport. That hangar has been sold so the plane is now near owner's winter residence at the Thermal Airport near Palm Springs.

Airframe:

4430 Hours Total Time Since New
Aircraft has Complete Logs, No Damage History.
BLR Winglets / VG's / Strakes
Skytech Starters
Known ice
Air Conditioning

Engines:

15 / 345 on New Camshafts
330 / 872 on Major Overhauls by Firewall Forward
Fresh prop governors both sides.
Alternator Conversion
Intercoolers


Paint was done in February 2001 by Sky Harbour in Goderich Ontario, base Graystone Jetglo with Aristo Blue Major accent in Jetglo and Silver minor accent in Acryglo. Paint is in good condition.

Interior was redone in 2010, Dark Grey Leather, Near new condition.

Avionics:

Garmin 530A WAAS (530A is the high power transmitter found in Turbines/Jets)
Garmin 430 WAAS
GMX200 MFD
GDL69A Uplink
GTX345 ADS Transponder #1 ADS-B in/out
GTX330 #2 Transponder
Century IV Autopilot (Works Very Well)
GMA340 Audio
Shadin Fuel Management
NSD360 Slaved HSI
King Altitude Alert

First question on a Duke - the camshafts! Both cams are low time.

Left engine - The plane was inspected by a potential buyer who had the oil sumps dropped which resulted in the cam being replaced with a factory new Lycoming Cam and Lifters in late 2018 by Western Skyways (Left Engine). Turbo was overhauled by Main Turbo. Fuel pump was overhauled by Quality Aircraft Accessories. Cylinders were honed to standard limits and re-ringed. Crankcase was flourescent particle inspected and visually inspected. Crankshaft was visually, dimensionally and magnetic particle inspected and returned to service. Engine was assembled with new main and rod bearings, new rod bolts and nuts. This engine has about 15 hours since all the above listed work, and about 330 since the major overhaul done by Firewall Forward.

Right engine - The right engine has approximately 872 hours since the major overhaul by Firewall Forward, and just 330 hours since camshaft replacement, and 15 hours since the sump was removed and the cam inspected, passed, and returned to service. The Duke engine top ends tend to be pretty bomb-proof, with the extensive bottom end work this engine should go quite a long way if the next owner will stay on top of the cam/lifter issue.

Second question on a Duke - condition of the tail surfaces! There is one spot of corrosion about the size of a quarter on the rudder. In an effort of full disclosure, I have posted a picture of the spot, circled with yellow grease pencil. The paint was done in 2001, so there is no worry about fast moving corrosion here. The owner and his mechanic have consulted a specialist on the subject and were told that the surface could be stripped, prepped and painted but there was minimal upside to tackling the issue now. There is no airworthiness concern that I would have on it. This rudder likely has more service life left than the entire aircraft will. We would be more than willing to work the deal in a way that gets the rudder redone if that is of interest to the buyer.

This is a nice Duke that has not been sitting derelict like so many have. I took a test flight with the owner after the late 2018 annual. The plane climbed beautifully up to FL220, where it did 218 knots true and was burning about 23 gph per side. The cabin was 4.4 PSI which gave us an 8800 ft cabin. The turbo system and pressurization system did just what they should have. This is a very together plane from what I can see. I do quite a few pressurized piston twins and have been quite involved for 26 years doing maintenance test flights and shop supervision.

I pride myself on deadly accurate representations. I think any interested party that looks at this plane will find what I have described.

I have log scans available on request.

The owner is done with flying - we are asking $169,000 and willing to entertain offers.

More images

More pictures

Damn nice Duke, Kent. Even with the “favorite cousin discount” the care and feeding of that baby is above my pay grade. Sure would be a great way to get around on my longer trips though! GLWS

BTW - I’m closer to Thermal distance wise than Kent is. Happy to assist any serious buyer as this B60 is just a quick flight from KVNY.

Beautiful Duke!

Definitely at the top of my wish list. Just wish I had a need for one. Get's my vote for coolest looking plane ever built. GLWTS



Ron

Nice looking Duke! Worth a look folks. Jump in, Duke waters are fine! Sure is a great way to travel.

Jim
N911S

Beautiful airplane!

Did they replace with Carbide lifters? Cam is really only a problem if the lifters are bad.

They did a Lycoming factory new cam and lifters on the left engine to the best of my knowledge.

Owner is willing to look at offers on this Duke.

The only squawk as it sits is the air-conditioning needs a bit of R-134A - usually have to do this once a year on these.

BUMP!

This Duke will be delivered with a fresh annual at the price listed. Available for inspection at the Thermal, California airport.

Radar?

Duke performance numbers improve dramatically when equipped with the “Grand Duke” package from BLR, as this plane is. Attached is a screenshot from the BLR website. The plane is stall-limited, meaning it will stall before VMC. This is a big deal that many prospective Duke owners aren’t aware of.

I absolutely love flying my Duke. If anyone in the Bay Area is interested in this one (or any Duke), you’re welcome to fly with me and see for yourself.

They removed the legacy radar when they did the last panel upgrade. The unit removed was a Sperry 200 color - I would bet all the wiring harnesses and hardware are still there it the radar is meaningful to you.

This does have the Garmin GDL-69A uplink with stereo, which will give you doppler radar and lightening strikes and a whole bunch more.