Why Textron Killed the King Air - A Brief History 

Why do you think Beechcraft ended the King Air C90? Which airplane do you think will be canceled next?

I grew up in Wichita, about 2 blocks away from Mrs. Beech's home. Many of my friend's fathers and neighbors worked for Beechcraft. I remember when the King Air was introduced. Every year, as Cub Scouts, we were given a guided tour of the Beechcraft assembly plants.

I worked at Beechcraft in Wichita in the late 70s as a machinist. Loved it there and loved seeing the completed planes leaving the plant.

I got to order a new C90 for our family and company plane. My mother and I went to the Beech factory to pick out the color of our plane plus all of the interior. On that day Olive Beech was at the factory and invited us to have lunch with her. It was a special day all around. I loved that plane. It was amazing. N11LS I wonder where my plane is today.

I build several cabinets for the "new" 360i with Textron IMF. Right now I'm on the vanity and midships mainly. The 360 is just a block point change with a redesign of the same furniture as the 350i. It has been a very consistent selling plane. Our department will be taking over the 260 line of furniture next week as well. We did the furniture mock up for the Denali as well but haven't heard of any development for years.

Ordering spares from beech used to be the highlight of my week, treated like Royalty, that changed with the Textron buy out. Absolutely the most pleasant aircraft to work on apart from the 23/24.

I flew over 7000 hours in C90 and never had a failure! What a great aircraft! Thank you Ma Beach👨‍✈️

I own and fly both Beech 35 (1947) and an 80‘s C90. Both incredible aircraft. Super sad to see the C90 go, but with plenty on the used market and latest Garmin aftermarket tech, still a lot of aircraft for the money.

When I was stationed in Hawaii back in the early 70's one of my bosses was a fixed wing pilot and I got to fly with him during his monthly proficiency flights on one of the U-21's that looked just like the Army aircraft shown in your video. It was not pressurized and had weather radar on board. We flew all over the Hawaiian Islands and I had a blast flying with him usually in the co pilots seat where he let me fly every now and then. I also got to fly on the current C-12 or King Air 200 to Germany and back from Vicenza and made one trip to Istanbul via Greece and it too was a great experience. Good video which brings back some fine memories.

Assigned as crew chief to a U21 unit, Command Aircraft Company, Long Thanh North Army Airfield, RVN. 24 U21’s. Also, made many jumps from King Airs as well. Fast climb to altitude!

The King Air at 3::44 is the US Army version called the U-21. I worked on 4 of these while I was I NhaTrang, VietNam 50 years ago!

I used to fly the C90 and 200. Both great airplanes. Miss those days.

I was aboard our company King Air one night back in the 1990's Pittsburg bound when we were struck by lightning and we continued on safely. My opinion of the plane went up a couple of notches.

Excellent presentation on the history of the King Air and its predecessors. In April of 1961, my father and his business partner purchased a new 1961 Twin Bonanza J50 from the Norman Larson Company in Van Nuys, California. That was eight months before I was born. The airplane was serial number JH-150, being the first of only twelve built that year. She was a real beauty! I hope to see many more King Airs in my lifetime. They are a great testament to the Beechcraft legacy and one of my favorite airplanes!

We have several C90’s in our fleet and overall maintenance costs are much lower than our Pilatus. They are popular with customers, comfortable and reliable.

your headline is a bit misleading, the only king air model discontinued was the king air 90..

Excellent history of Beechcraft. I was in high school when the first 90 flew. I started working for Beech on the Avionics for heavy twins U21, 99, 90s and model 18. You have got the history right on. However, when you say the operating cost is much less it is because you have half the engines working. I know first hand that you can load a King Air with fuel full passengers and other equipment loaded in the aisle and takeoff from a mountain strip with no problem, because of the second engine. So be careful about the comparison differences between One and Two engines. Check out the 'Lightning' (a turboprop on a model 36) back in the '80s as it was going to be Beechcrafts answer to what is now a TBM.

Another great video Pedro! Your editing and production skills are growing impressive!

Great overview!! I've always wanted to know the history and the versions. Thanks!!

As a little boy in the 1970's, I saw the Queen Air and King Air......in my copy of "Janes Commercial Aircrafts". Good memories, lol.

Your research is exceptional. Very interesting to dig out the filiation like you did.

Very good information! Thanks for sharing!

This was a great video, it deserves a series of its own... please make more like it, and also out it in an appropriate playlist so I can find them🙃💪

"Having that extra fan outside is comforting." - twin engine pilot friend of mine.

Great documentary on the King Air ....Thanks

Great video, Thanks for sharing. I am a fan of fighter planes, but the King Air is one of my favorite planes and it holds a special place in my heart.

Great short production, very informative

Kind of kills the dream of winning the lottery and heading straight for the Beechcraft dealer to put money on a brand new C90 for my personal aircraft. The C90 is the perfect personal plane. Long range, fast and easily capable of tucking into short fields when necessary. From my base in Kentucky, most of the country would be easily accessible.

Flying Doctors Australia used King Air in their fleet until they changed to the Pilatus PC12 circa 1994/5. The pilot concern was always about going from two engines to single engine operation. The concerns of operational management were for the higher maintenance costs of twin engine aircraft.

Off topic, but the V Bonanzas are still one of the most gorgeous aircraft ever. The King Air F90 was my favorite in terms of visual balance and design.

woe - What a great channel. Full of useful information. thanks.

Very informative and very interesting thank you.

Great vid! Thank you.

Turboprop singles ate its lunch, because of the operating cost of the 2nd engine. Turbines are so reliable it's harder to justify a twin when there are other SE options avail in that segment. Pilatus has been chipping away at C90 sales for years. Now Cessna's new Denali will take away more sales. The 250/350 still sells well, but if there was a SE turboprop with their seating capacity it might take away those sales also.

Thanks for the great memories!

I’ve always considered the King Air 90 the perfect personal/family or small business aircraft. Also perfect for starting a part 135 FAA charter operation. Everyone is going for the fast single engine turboprops now. Sales dictates production, but we all know those single engine birds can’t carry the weight, and savvy business execs want two props for safety. I still love the basic simple beauty of the straight tail King Air 90’s. Sad.

I took care of military King Airs from 87 to 2001. Trust me they fly at much more than the rated weight. Under certain conditions the military flew the early spars up to13500+lbs and the force mate spars up 16,000 lbs. Granted today much of the surveillance work they did is done by satellites today but the did everything they were asked to do. We were sent a 65A90 that was a confinscated by DEA. It had a cabin supercharger rather than bleed air pressurization and a 24 volt electric air conditioner in the nose that pulled something like 125 to 150 amps . They rigged for night vison goggle and sat phone and flew for a while and then gave it to the Army. The Army made an inertial nav trainer out of it for a few years and let it set until all of the 5 year TBO parts were due. The dropped it on us with 1 day left on the 5 year TBO parts and all the extra equipment pulled out except the wiring for it was still there. They flew it like a U-21 however a 65A90 had a lower gross weight than a U-21. With full fuel and 2 pilots it was overweight. We stripped out all the extra wiring and equipment that didn't come in a 65A90 and did all the over due maintenance and worked off all faults. That got it legal to fly with 2 passengers. They flew it a few times as a trainer but since it was so different from the U21's it didn't suit them as a trainer so it sat in the back of the Army hanger for 2 year when it disappeared much like it arrived. So they did all that in order to get a pressurized, air conditioned plane rather than another U21. It met the spec the Army asked for yet was totally useless for VIP transport. We did what they asked but I hate to think how much money was totally wasted. That location now has a C-12( KingAir200 with cargo door and high floatation landing gear) like they should have got in the 1st place.

My uncle was chief pilot at textron...,first flew the queen air.....later the falcon 10 and jet ranger.....I toured the queen air at the 67 Cleveland air show.....also saw a fly past of the SR71.....great days......he retired with 30,000 hours fixed and rotary

Finished my flying days in a b200. Listening to the sound of the turbine come up to speed never got old. Still isn't for that matter

Hiya King Air driver here ..CP/Line Training Captain....all of remote/crude "strips" Outback Australia, tropics, New Guinea highlands. Gotta note that: it is NOT STOL. Even the Dash-8 (100 Series) I flew similar destinations IS NOT STOL - unlike brother Dash-7. King Air was always AT LEAST as good as "book" - could stop in 400 metres. Off in less than 1,000....tropics = high humidity & ISA plus 15/20.

Nice detail on this video.

I was on a King Air returning from Area-51 on a windy Sunday afternoon at McCarron when suddenly the plane rotated 90 degrees and I was looking straight down at concrete. Oddly, I felt no trepidation and the pilot quickly brought it back level.

Nice video!

So, you are saying I really should have bought that sexy King Ranch edition King Air? Indeed. Beautiful.

Thx to ur video as always !

Nice video. Who knew my BE35 was the inspiration for the Queen and King Airs?

One thing the King Air has, & probably WILL ALWAYS HAVE over it's competitor's are looks, esp compared to that LOONNGGG front nose/engine cowling on the TBM. The King Air is just a beautiful aircraft ✈️ in my opinion.

Hello my friend in Florida! Pity, the C90 was on my short list if I would win the Lottery.... Your Starship T-shirts have now survived many washes. Think I have to get some more of them. Now in space!

I'm a shareholder and when i heard this in a investors statement i was really surprised especially with the king air being the king pin of small turboprop aircraft and is iconic.

That's to bad i have built and worked the C90 for yrs its a great aircraft

Thank you very much for the story of the King Air, I love this plane with which I have done many hours of flight. This is a very fine achievement from Beechcraft.

Very nice!

Denali is a 50 year newer design, the old stuff can't compete no matter how superiour it was in its day. Seen Denali and Sky Courier in Wichita, both use latest Engineering and Avionics.

This video is great. Thank you.'

I had no idea they were that expensive... wow!

The T-Bone was a great airplane. Lived flying it.

It is surprising that the TBM costs that much "more" than the C90! Especially since the C90 uses 2- PT6-A engines and the TBM uses 1, even though the TBM version is likely different with more S-HP and FADEC. The turbine engine is still the most $$ component. The C90 was too $$ for me, but a great deal for the weight and performance it delivered. 8) JMHO --gary

A c-90 with a black-hawk conversion can do almost anything

Although I love the pc12. Its sad to hear that they're not going to be making these.

That was a Travel air your showing with the square tail. I owned a 1960. Had Lycoming 360s. Never had huge engines. The much larger twin Beech was the Gulfstream of it's day with the big size engines. Had a bench seat.

I love this kind of evolutionary story in GA airplanes. Another good one that I’d love to see a video on is how the Gulfstream 280 can trace its lineage back to the Aero Commander 500 series.

ONE OF THE BEST AIRCRAFT OF ALL TIME!!

Great video, I was very lucky to get a chance at flying a 1967 KingAir A-90 in 1977 for two years. But I thought the first one was produced in 1966 as the straight KingAir or straight 90. Then in 68 Beech introduced the B-90. BTW, the straight 90 and A-90 had 500shp PT-6 engines and the B-90 was the first with the PT-6 550 shp engines. It was something like -21 and -23 etc. Too lazy to look it up. But what a great airplane, flew so easily and honest. Got my ATP in it which was a dream in it’s self. Again, thanks for such a great video.

It was always my dream to fly a King Air.

Unique aircraft for sure.

For a more in-depth analysis of the King Airs in military service, read the book "U S Army Twin Beeches" by Terry Love from Schiffer Publishing. Hundreds of photos and details.

Interesting vid! Not sure how you found my photo though (1:46). Could've let me know if you wanted the full res copy.

Twin bonanza is NOT a twin engine version of the Bonanza. They don’t share wing, cabin, engine or other major components. They are completely different airplanes other than they share a name. Saying a twin bonanza is a twin version of the bonanza, like saying a DC10 is a jet engine version of a DC3 because they are both DCs. The 55 Baron is the twin engine version of the 33/35 Bonanza. The 58 Baron is the twin engine version of the 36 Bonanza. In both cases, the planes share cabin and wing components. And for some years, they used the same engines . . . Just two verses one.

Title is a bit misleading. If they’re still selling the larger models I’d consider that a big win for king air fans. Awesome history overview. Love the beach 18 as well.

I flew thousands of hours on king airs, and I love them even more than boeings

King Air's were the mainstay of the Royal Flying Doctor Service in Australia. I think the RFDS is now moving to Pilatus 24's.

Honestly, I am not really a fan of the King Air, but it's end is really sad. I may like Cessnas more - but the King Air has deserved to remain in production.

I recommend in your HEADLINE that you state specifically the C90, I think that would be helpful.

The King Air C90 will forever fly high in the sky!

If you haven't created a video about the F-90, how about a video of the F-90?

I'm not a real pilot but I love flying the king air in MSFS It's my favorite plane

With a name like Textron your bet is that they fold this company down. That seems to be the trend these days. The facts don't lie. Great video on an iconic aircraft. King Airs are really nice and the C-90 looks proportionate and has that classy styling. What a pity it's going away.

The Reagan excise tax on airplanes and pleasure boats shut down the King Air line in January 1982. Not completely, they still made spares, but few planes. Me and everyone else who was working at Beech were laid off.

I have this plane in Aerofly FS flight simulator. Love to fly this bird.

I love the C90 I dream of owning one some day

Would Nextant G90xt pick up this market? I had a link to the website of Nextant but seems they removed this before message. I think the Kingair 90 is a great aircraft Looking forward to your opinion about Nextant

Bravo

That sucks the model 90 has bin a common site in my life and like your top 10 discontinued GA aircraft this will be one of those turboprops that will roam the skies for a very long time.

The twin bonanza is nothing like the bonanza. They are massive

Justo cuando me iba a comprar uno

The king air is a staple in aircraft manufacturing

Interesting for sure. Where does the E-90 & F-90 fit into this line?

Making room for the new King Air 360?

The King Air also evolved into the versatile Beach 1900 series of passenger aircraft.

I love it and miss it too

A friend’s dad took me up in a Beechcraft Bonanza V Wing in the late 70’s and it was exhilarating to say the least. Years later he bought a King Air for his corporate travel and we again went up for a flight. That King Air power made the hair stand up on my arms as an 11 year old. A shame to hear they discontinued them. Great aircraft.

Sad to hear, I'm a nostalgic kinda guy. Where's the Baron in all this?

I used to work at a commercial airline pilot training center. We had 12 C-90A’s that we used for multi engine training. Great aircraft.

Not surprising to see the C-90 killed. It was expensive to run for its size. Also, with turbine engine reliability the second engine becomes more of a burden (increased fuel burn, 2 hot sections, training requirements, etc) than an advantage.

I worked for a glass laminating company that made the passenger compartment windows.

With much more efficient aircraft like the Diamond DA62 which is a twin engine (piston) and single turbo props from many others, it was time to call it a day for this aircraft.

?? Which King Airs are discontinued? All or only the C90?

They replaced it with the King Air 260 which is a 90 with a T tail. Basically an updated F90. The King Air line is in production not sure what this guy is talking about.

i just watched your canard planes video, and searched a bit why they dont stall (i'm not that much into aviation technic's) but didnt found something. maybe someone here could that explain to me?

I’m honestly surprised they were even still making the c90 up until recently. I’d have figured it was discontinued many years ago. Still an awesome plane though!