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Thunder Birds –  The Mighty Beechcraft  A17 Biplanes

Thunder Birds – The Mighty Beechcraft A17 Biplanes

The Model A17F and A17FS were like no other Beechcrafts ever built – powerful, brutish machines whose high performance was nothing short of spectacular for their time. Despite America’s bleak economic situation, Walter Beech and his chief engineer, Ted Wells, held tenaciously to the belief that there was a small, but profitable market for a…

Garmin announces TXi EIS for select Beechcraft King Air 200 aircraft 

Garmin® International, Inc. recently announced that expanded engine monitoring capability is now available for select Beechcraft King Air 2001 aircraft with the addition of the TXi™ Engine Indication System (EIS) display. King Air 200 owners and operators will benefit from the TXi EIS with features like engine timers, exceedance recordings, dynamic engine indications, as well…

The Flying Showroom

The Flying Showroom

It’s tough for Jeff Lowe to fly his 1979 Beechcraft King Air C90 past an airport that is home to an aftermarket completion center. As co-founder and president of Aviation Fabricators – or AvFab – he knows each facility is a customer or prospective customer for the interior parts and components his company designs and…

Fuel Leaks and the  Fuel Control

Fuel Leaks and the Fuel Control

Few things are more annoying than finding a puddle of fuel on the hangar floor the morning after a flight. A B200 I was consulting on recently manifested just that. Fuel leaks that crop up suddenly can result from recent maintenance where a seal wasn’t seated properly or where a fitting was left loose. Another…

My Golden Anniversary

My Golden Anniversary

I began as an instructor at the Beechcraft Training Center on Jan. 3, 1972. If anyone had told me then that I would still be teaching King Air pilots in 2022, I would have thought they were crazy, but so it is. To steal a line from “Saturday Night Live:” “King Airs been very, very…

Beechcraft –  90 Years of Excellence

Beechcraft – 90 Years of Excellence

Throughout its illustrious history, the Beech Aircraft Corporation has distinguished itself as one of the world’s premier manufacturers of general aviation airplanes by consistently setting the pace for competitors to follow. Early in 1932, Curtiss-Wright engineer Theodore “Ted” Wells was completing the design of a cabin biplane featuring a powerful static, air-cooled radial engine and…

Pilot Proficient Online Aviation Training and Ground School Offers King Air 200/B200 Familiarization Course

Pilot Proficient has developed an online King Air 200/B200 familiarization course designed for the pilot who is transitioning into the King Air 200 and covers pertinent aircraft systems, limitations, operating characteristics and tips and tricks. The course includes multimedia presentations, in-cockpit video demonstrations and an interactive aircraft systems section to illustrate the concepts, with quizzes…

King Air  Market Report – Limited Inventory and Unbelievable Prices

King Air Market Report – Limited Inventory and Unbelievable Prices

I’m not sure I’m up for the challenge. Ever think that? I rarely do. I’m typically very confident in life and in business. But we all have those moments of doubt and for me they seem to come up every year about mid-January. That’s when I get an email from Kim Blonigen, the editor of…

King Air Gathering – May 12-14, 2022

If you haven’t already registered, you may want to as spots are filling up for the King Air Gathering (KAG) being held May 12-14 at the Beechcraft Heritage Museum in Tullahoma, Tennessee. Below is a summary of the speakers and evening activities: Thursday, May 12: Those flying their King Airs to the event will land…