Ben Whitley is a Raleigh, North Carolina-based civil litigation lawyer who has owned a 1998 Beechcraft King Air C90B since October 2025. This aircraft is a milestone in Whitley’s lifelong interest in aviation and King Airs.
“I have always been fascinated with airplanes. All my toys were airplanes and as soon as I could get a job, I got one at the local airport in Kinston [North Carolina]. That little airport had a Part 135 operation with a King Air 90, and I coveted that particular plane,” he said, noting that he soloed in a Cessna 150 at 17 years old.
“I always thought I wanted to be an airline pilot, knowing that it was best to either enter the military or work as a flight instructor to build hours. By the time I got to college and began studying political science, I got drawn to the law. I decided to take a different path at the time but have always kept aviation as part of my life.”
During law school and in the infancy of his legal career, Whitley continued to fly. He recalls memorable flights in rented Cessnas, including taking the Potomac River approach into Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (KDCA) and the Hudson River Corridor transition in New York City.
Transitioning to aircraft ownership
Whitley became an aircraft owner in 2013.
“I had an opportunity to get into fractional ownership on an SR22,” he said. “I flew the Cirrus for a couple of years, up and down the East Coast which got me really comfortable with that type of ATC work. I got a lot of time on it and part of my mission is going down to the Bahamas. And, of course, as soon as you go over the water, single-engine airplanes sound different – parachute or not.”
Whitley chartered a Beechcraft Baron twin-engine piston to the islands once and the experience changed the trajectory of his aircraft ownership journey.
“They let me sit up front, which us pilots love to do when we get in charter situations,” he recalled. “Just hearing those two engines and the feeling of the power of that plane, at that moment I realized that I was a twin-engine guy from that point on. I then acquired a 2006 G58 Baron and flew that for six years.”
He flew that G58, serial number TH-2127, nearly 1,000 hours – a mix of crisscrossing North Carolina for the civil litigation firm he worked for and recreational flying.
“The Baron was perfect for this mission, for being able to get from one side of the state to the next and for getting down to the Bahamas,” he said.
The Baron left an indelible mark on Whitley, literally – he tattooed an image of the airplane on his right arm.
Realizing a lifelong dream: King Air ownership
When deciding to expand his capabilities, the pilot with commercial and seaplane ratings briefly considered a few options from other manufacturers. It’s not surprising that he quickly narrowed his choices to King Air C90 and 200 models, though, since he’d had his eyes on King Airs since he was a teen fueling up planes on the hot ramp.
“I have always been in love with the King Air, but being a prudent buyer, I talked to [others about the move up]. I had another lawyer buddy of mine who has a TBM and he let me come take a look at it. You had to crawl into it, and it was very uncomfortable. I had more room in the Baron and the TBM didn’t seem like an upgrade, although I’m sure the [performance] numbers look great,” Whitley advised, noting that the prospective new law firm bird would be flown by himself as well as a professional pilot crew on select missions.
The decision-making process helped him realize that not only was he meant to be a twin-engine pilot, but he was meant to be a Beechcraft twin pilot.
“I had some folks who helped me manage the Baron and they helped narrow things down for me between the 90 and 200,” Whitley said. “The debate of whether I really needed [space and payload] to take more people went on for a little bit. I think it came down to it’s easier to hangar the 90 and I didn’t need to be able to take that many people all the time. When I need to take four or six people, I have the capability to do that comfortably in the 90.”
Timing of the acquisition also helped pull the smaller King Air to the top, as Whitley said there were a lot of good C90 aircraft for sale when he began looking in mid-2025. His goal was to find a Garmin-equipped bird with a strong maintenance pedigree. LJ-1504 met all his initial needs and offered more.
“This particular C90B had all the great modifications you could have on it already: the Blackhawks, wing lockers and winglets … more than anything that drew me to this particular plane,” he said. “The other thing that was important about this aircraft is that it had the G1000 NXi upgrade from a prior owner. I was hesitant about the avionics packages in other King Airs that I was looking at in my price range. I’m sure I would have been fine, but being able to go right into those avionics without an issue from what I was used to for six years was a real selling point for me.”
Plus, LJ-1504 was a turnkey purchase; he began flying immediately after signing the closing paperwork in October 2025.
“The condition of all the things that matter was really good. I may do some new carpet but other than that, it was ready to go,” he said.
Training to be a King Air pilot
Moving from the Baron to the King Air, Whitley felt there were similarities that eased the transition to the larger Beechcraft.
“What was great about the Baron was that I got so familiar with the Beechcraft platform and the G1000 avionics,” he said. “When it came time for an opportunity and I felt comfortable enough in my own aviation journey to upgrade to a King Air, it was such an easy, natural transition. I feel like that was all in the design.”
He added: “I think the biggest difference between the two aircraft that people should be mindful of is that the King Air is a heavier aircraft. In some ways, it can be easier [to fly] if it’s all set up right. If approaches are flown on the numbers, and you are comfortable, it is steadier coming down. It sets up a different kind of landing, and I feel like that’s something folks work through. The King Air sits up so much higher and it’s a different feeling. But like all things, once you get it, you get it.”
Whitley did his initial training at King Air Academy in Arizona and praised the team’s customization of the training to his airplane, situation and needs.
“The folks at King Air Academy were able to re-create the exact panel [in his C90B] in a motion simulator,” he said. “We were able to do a lot of engine outs, and they even did a bird strike. It’s all based on your home airport, and everything was flown out of KRDU [Raleigh-Durham International Airport]. It was great to be able to get used to the switchology, the placement of the different things and to run through the clunkier, more difficult tests that we would run as an initial flight, such as the governor test – things that are kind of tough and on the edge. So, to learn it that way [in the simulator] was really good.”
In addition to the simulator work at King Air Academy, insurance required 25 hours of in-aircraft training. He felt comfortable with flying the King Air before completing his training.
A serendipitous Beech connection
Not long after acquiring LJ-1504 last fall, Whitley was hiring a new work assistant on the ground in Charleston, South Carolina. During the interview, the candidate, Bella Pitt, perked up when he mentioned his use of a business aircraft.
“I was telling her about some plane stuff and she said, ‘Oh what type of plane?’” he recalled. “I said ‘Beechcraft’ and she kind of smiled and said, ‘Well, Olive Ann is my great-grandmother!’ As a Beechcraft nerd I was like, you’ve got to be kidding me.”
It just so happened that the Pitt family was going to be in the area about a week later, and Whitley thought there would be no better way to celebrate this new-to-him plane than by christening it with the grandson and great-granddaughters of Beech founders Walter and Olive Ann.
For the Beechcraft aficionado, this was a fun, novel way to bring new life to the C90B that he plans to fly about 150 hours per year in support of his legal business. For now, Whitley is content having achieved this lifelong ownership dream.
“The C90B has met the bill so far and it’s a great bargain for the type of capability that you get,” he said. “And I know that every guy or gal dreams and wants to keep going up to jets, and the more I know about them and the more I know about the King Air – I realize that there’s not a better platform for what I want to do, even if I could get there 20 or 30 minutes sooner. It’s not going to make a lot of sense.”