Anyone here flown a Beech18 ?

[tathepilot]

What is your conventional gear experience?

zero...

 

[tathepilot]

Is this job up in the San Juans by chance?

nope, i know who you speak of.. this job is in the deep south.

 

[tathepilot]

Do you have lots of tailwheel time, or are you slovenly dressed and unkempt with the smell of oil hanging about you, so that you may appear to be a tailwheel-round-engine pilot?

zero tw time, as i said to avbug..

 

[ukaviator]

If this company is the one I think your referring to, they have the BE18's with the 7ft stretch, nose gear and the Garrett engines, as well as a regular tail wheel BE18 with the R985's.

All the 18's Ive flown have been a blast to fly. Of course its nice to fly the turbine conversion 18's - not only for the reliability, but the engines offer a little over 1200hp which bumps the IAS to around 175kts

Have fun flying these unique birds!

 

[Waldom]

Well, Tathepilot, that operator has one very unique airplane there. I don't know what the second BE-18 they have is because there is only one Garrett-powered Beech 18 tail-wheel conversion in the world. It also happens to have an eight foot long fuselage stretch (four feet in front of the wing and four feet behind). The original registration was N231LJ. The last time I saw it was about ten years ago in Willow Run, Michigan. It had no engines on it and someone told me then that it had been recently ground-looped [a not unlikely possibility].

The airplane was the result of a rather nebulous deal between Gordon Hamilton (an aircraft modifier in Tuscon, AZ that did several Twin-Beech conversions) and that loveable softy and all around nice guy, Connie Kalitta (a freight operator). I do not recall what dash number Garretts it had on it but I do remember that they were rated at 715 shp. I flew that machine several years ago, and it is capable of handling a lot of weight and bulk with ease...but not legally. Due to a dispute between Hamilton and Kalitta before Hamilton had finished the approval process, the gross take-off weight of the airplane was only certified at 11,280 pounds. They had intended to have a G.T.O.W. of 12,499 pounds. This cuts into the payload a bit as you can imagine. With full fuel tanks and one pilot aboard, you will be just enough under gross to be able to take a Jepp case with you. To be fair, the airplane can hold a boatload of fuel [I don't remember how much].

The good news is that in spite of its appearance, the airplane flies nicely. The ground handling in this airplane is significantly more forgiving than the many PT-6 powered, unstretched conversions of tail-dragger Twin Beeches that Hamilton did. That being said, you will still find this airplane quite a challenge if you have no prior conventional-gear proficiency. If the company instructor is a very good one and you take your training quite seriously, a conventional gear checkout can be completed in this airplane, though. If you ever get the inkling that you have the ground-handling mastered in this airplane, you are about to receive a very rapid advance in your aeronautical education. The airplane can be operated quite safely as long you avoid a cocky attitude. I guess that's true of any airplane, but this machine excells in keeping you humble.

To avoid confusion, let me tell you about the many different turbine engine conversions of the Beech 18. There were two modification outfits that did turbine conversions: Volpar Aviation of Van Nuys, CA and Hamilton Aircraft Corporation of Tuscon, AZ.

Volpar did two versions. The Volpar Turbo 18 was a low cabin (C-45 or Beech D-18S) tricycle gear airplane with Garrett engines. In regards to performance, they are screamers. The Volpar Turboliner had Garrett TPE-331-101 engines, tricycle landing gear, an eight foot long fuselage stretch, the eight inch raised cabin of E and later model 18s, and the windshield of G and H model 18s. The 9 Turbo 18s were built for Air America and used in S.E. Asia. The Turboliner was designed as a 15 passenger commuter and freighter.

Hamilton Aircraft converted several tail-wheel 18s to Pratt & Whitney Canada PT-6-20 and PT-6-27 engines. The main fuselage was not stretched but a long needle nose was added that contained a 750 pound capacity baggage compartment. [The forward compartment was needed because the increased payload could not all be put in the cabin without taking the c.g. out of the aft limit]. This conversion was called a Westwind I (not to be confused with the later Israeli Aircraft Industries Westwind I and II jets). Hamilton's Westwind II was essentially a copy of Volpar's Turboliner with Garrett TPE-331-101s, the fuselage stretch, and the nose wheel. The one and only Westwind III is the airplane you described and it has the Garrett engines, the needle nose, the stretched cabin, and a tail wheel.

 

[Waldom]

If Ukaviator is right about the operator, most of my previous post was for naught and I sure hope that Tathepilot's flying is better than his or her research.

But, Tathepilot, if you find out that you will be flying one of these airplanes, let me know which one and I will try and help you.

I have been a designated company instructor on recip. engine, conventional-gear Beech 18s and probably checked out 15 pilots in that type including two that had no previous tail wheel experience. That's 15 pilots that checked successfully. After a brief evaluation checkride, I probably rejected twice the number. The airplane is not really that hard to fly, it was the very limited time that the operator alotted for initial training that was the limiting factor. These poor folks were going to be turned loose single-pilot in our 14 junk airplanes in the middle of a Midwest winter. If I couldn't teach them enough to survive in about six hours of flyng I would have attended a lot of funerals.

I also have experience in both types of the Garrett-engined Volpars and the Hamilton Westwind II.

 

[avbug]

The lack of conventional gear experience alone, to say nothing of other issues, indicate a strong potential for one to get in far over one's head, here.

 

[nosehair]

Hard to believe you were approached for the job with no t/w time. That ain't one to learn on.

 

[tathepilot]

thanks to everyone that is giving me much needed info here.. i agree with some of the comments about being in over my head.. at this point in my career, or at any point, i don't want to put myself at risk for the sake of flying a 'cool a/c'.. the weather down here does get crappy, and when it does, it normally stays for at least a week.. so i would have to fly the 18 in the icy soup.. i do speak the truth about being approached, but to be honest, i should have said a co-worker who is good friends with the cp was down in fl, and the cp told him that he needs someone to fly the b18, and this is when i got the phone call.
i have some short term goals, and switching companies to fly a b-18 is not on the horizon.. (pun intended)..

i am just gathering info at this point..

thanks everyone, lets keep it going..

 

[FreightPup]

Do you have lots of tailwheel time, or are you slovenly dressed and unkempt with the smell of oil hanging about you, so that you may appear to be a tailwheel-round-engine pilot?

Ha Ha!
That's funny 'cause it's true

 

[Waldom]

Great avatar, Freight Pup. That Keith Ferris print is part of our living room decor. Good thing the wife's a pilot and the background colors are the same as that of the furniture! And yes, you're right; there is no romance associated with an engine that whines.

 

[alaskaborn]

Sounds like Hankins

 

[tathepilot]

Sounds like Hankins

that is it!

what do you know about them?

 

[kfscapn]

I didn't realize 231LJ was back in the air. I know it disappeared from YIP a few years ago in non-flying condition. I never flew it, but I flew the Turboliners and Westwind II's Kitty Hawk/Kalitta had. They were a solid, stable airplane good for about 200 knots true on 80gph.

 

[727gm]

N123LJ is actually the only Westwind IV, by Hamilton Aircraft.

The Westwind III is the standard tailwheel Beech 18 with PT6A-20 or-27 engines. Here's a picture of the unfortunate demise of my favorite, by it's new operator:

http://www.bahamaspress.com/?p=506

The Westwind series(I, II, III) was STC'ed by American Turbine Engine Company of Pasadena, CA and the aircraft were modified in Long Beach, CA in the mid-to-later sixties. The STC was sold to Hamilton, and more aircraft were converted by Hamilton later, including N38L (1975).

As I said long ago about this aircraft:

Or howzabout the good ol' Beech 18T ( Hamilton Westwind III), what a machine! Rolling in on the field gear down, flaps 45, props FWD, brakes checked, crabbing down to the ground in a strong crosswind, rounding out and aligning with the runway, coming to idle with one throttle, rolling one wheel on first and making it stick, closing the other throttle and planting the other wheel while easing the first throttle over the gate into beta/reverse (a twist of the wrist in a Westwind) then the other throttle to idle and more reverse on the on the first engine, hauling them both into a split-reverse while flying the tail down and keeping it straight. Tail becomes less effective with the big flaps near the ground, but the wing angle makes the ailerons moreso. Short field, throw in hard-but-not-too-hard braking and reverse while tail is still up and elevator to compensate. Hard to explain, a challenge and a joy to accomplish, different from most aircraft, a sweet ZEN machine.