Page 4 - Volume 15 Number 8

The “Cookbook” King Airs
During the 1970s and 1980s, the Beech Aircraft Corporation served up the E90 and F90 King Air using special ingredients drawn from their library of recipes.
by Edward H. Phillips
By the early 1970s, the Model 90 series had become to the corporate world what the Beechcraft Bonanza had become to the private pilot – the best value for the money – and in 1972 Beechcraft engineers unveiled plans for yet another upgraded version of the venerable King Air. Designated as the Model E90, the airplane benefited from an increase in cruise speed to 285 mph at an altitude of 16,000 feet and a higher service ceiling of 27,620 feet.
First flown Jan. 18, 1972, the E90 could fly up to 1,870 statute miles at
its maximum range power setting. Although outwardly the E90 appeared to be a “clone” of the Model C90 upon which it was based, the new King Air sported Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A- 28 turboprop engines each developing 680 shaft horsepower (shp). The engines, however, were each flat-rated at 550 shp. Cabin pressurization remained at 4.6 pounds per square inch (psid) providing passengers and cockpit crewmembers with a comfortable environment.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued Beech Aircraft Corporation
The external appearance of the E90 King Air was es- sentially identical to the C90, but the latest addition to the Beechcraft royal family cruised at a higher airspeed and could climb to more than 27,000 feet. A total of 347 airplanes were built. (Special Collections and University Archives, Wichita State University Libraries)
As the decade of the 1970s arrived, the Beech Aircraft Corporation had built more than 1,300 King Air business and military airplanes since the introduction of the Model 90 in 1964. Of these, the 1,000th King Air had been delivered in 1972 and eight years later in 1980 the 2,000th King Air, a Model 200, took to the skies. Sales remained strong as did the company’s bottom line thanks to guidance provided through the steady hand of CEO Olive Ann Beech, President Frank E. Hedrick and the board of directors.
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CORRESPONDENCE
IN HISTORY
Correction
Editor’s Note: In the June 2021 issue, the historical article titled “The ‘Cookbook’ King Airs” had some inaccuracies that are corrected below. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.
The final Model E90 to roll off the assembly lines was serial number LW-347.
Continuing the company’s highly successful “Cookbook” approach to creating new aircraft, in 1977 engineers combined the T-tail design of the Super King Air with the fuselage of the Model E90 and the wings and landing gear from Model A100, but the A100’s wing fences were deleted before production began. The result was designated the F90 King Air and the preproduction prototype, serial number LA-1, made
its first flight January 16, 1978, under the command of company test pilot Marv Pratt. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued Type Certificate A31CE to the F90 May 18, 1979.
The F90 served as a step up the Beechcraft product line from the E90 and possessed major systems and per- formance improvements compared to its sibling. Chief among these was installation Pratt & Whitney Canada
PT6A-135 turboprop engines, each rated at 750 shp. The powerplants were mated to four-blade propellers rotating at 1,700 RPM in cruise to reduce cabin noise level. Maximum cruise speed increased to 307 mph from the E90’s 285 mph, and initial rate of climb was 2,380 feet per min- ute. In addition, maximum certified altitude increased to 31,000 feet. The F90 featured a dual-tire main landing gear similar to that of the Super King and the company’s new 28 VDC multi- bus electrical system. The system con- tained five separate buses, automatic load shedding and solid-state current sensors to provide protection against ground faults, thereby quickly isolat- ing a faulty bus.
Initial customer demand for the F90 proved to be strong and 202 airplanes were built between 1979-1983. Production peaked at 75 airplanes in 1981. Later, the prototype F90 served briefly as an engineering testbed for the proposed Model G90 King Air that would have been powered by Garrett TPE-331 engines. For the 1983 model year, Beech Aircraft engineers incorporated technical improvements that were applied to the F90-1, including pitot-type engine cowlings with improved air intake characteristics, and the use of tapered exhaust stacks. The wings held 388 gallons of fuel with another 41 gallons available from auxiliary tanks in the wing center section. KA
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