Beechjet 400A Perf/Planning Q's

[doublepsych]

Hi All,

First off thanks for any info anyone can offer. I am in an new Beechjet operation, stricly part 91, and am new to the type. I was wondering if anyone familiar with the beechjet could offer some insight...

1. The aircraft we fly has the 850 FMS. I have flown the newer 4200, similar to the 5000 in the newer Beechjets and other aircraft, where you could load a SID/STAR/APCH from a LSK prompt. On the 850, you have to type every fix on every SID/STAR chart, build it manually. Can anyone explain the full implications of this for RNAV SIDs/STARs with tighter RNP requirements? Or any other pertinent 850 "gotchas", or usefulness tips?

2. Can anyone share a detailed fuel planning matrix for fltplan.com? Would sure save some time in developing one myself, and probably eliminate some errors/guesswork.

3. If there are any other Beechjet rules of thumb, heads-ups, general operating tips, glass care tips, mx facility experiences, and/or anything else a Beechjet newbie might need to know, it would all be much appreciated....

Basically, I'm looking for any Beechjet wisdom you can share,

Thanks

 

[hawkerjock]

BE400a will use 1500lbs 1st hour, 1200lbs-1000lbs (FL350-FL400) 2nd hour, and
800 last hour. I use these numbers on fltplan and they work well. Give yourself 100 for taxi out burn.

The 850 sucks. It is a shame you have to use it. However it is legal for SIDS and STARS. Just make a practice of briefing what you have typed in against your hard copy. This is good practice no matter what FMS you are using. The good news is there are no more replacements for the 850. If it breaks, you need to upgrade.

 

[FreightGuyNTX]

My understanding is that if the SIDs or STARs you would like to use are not in the database and retrieveable that you should not use them, the reasoning here is that some waypoints will be fly over and some will be fly by.

Is there any chance of upgrading to the 5000?

 

[doublepsych]

Guys,

Thanks for the replies.

Unfortunately, not much chance of upgrading to the 5000, at least not as long as these are working.

My understanding, without any research, is that building a SID or STAR is ok, but, obviously, building an approach/missed approach is not ok. But I am not sure about some RNAV SIDs/STARs, I just don't know that much about RNP guidelines. Something I should probably study up on a little.

As far a general Beechjet tips or pointers, if anyone else has any more, keep 'em coming...

 

[WrknStff]

I'm in the Preowned beechjet program in Flops and we don't fly the rnav sids because of the whole "flyover" versus the "flyby" thing. The 850 only works in the flyby mode. There aren't a whole lot of sids that use this though. I've really only run across a problem with it flying out of Las Vegas. Supposedly they are real picky about the whole flyby thing so you don't want to fly one of those sids there. But you can always ask for one of the other sids if they give it to you so it's not a big deal really, just make sure you check the chart to make sure it doesn't use the fly over symbols.

 

[flyer172r]

In terms of general flying tips, on climbout, once you climb past 10,000, set the pitch to 5 degrees, and manage the power as usual. That'll give you about as much performance as you can get (which isn't much above the mid-30s) and it's simple to do.

 

[CorpAv8r]

Regarding climbout, we used 250 KIAS to about FL 260, and then let it accelerate to .70 mach for the remainder of the climb. We climbed straight to FL 390 or FL 400 with no problems (800-1000 fpm) and then accelerated to right around .76 mach fairly quickly. From my experience, the printed .62 mach climb profile didn't work well at all.

You will get a little better TAS in the low to mid 30's, but you have to get up to the upper 30's to low 40's to get those fuel flows down in order to get any range out of the Beechjet.

Regarding the FMS, we had the 5000 system, so I can't help you.

If you went to FSI in Wichita, they used to have a weight & balance program on an Excel spreadsheet. I helped develop it when we were operating a straight 400. They might not be giving it out anymore because of liability issues, but it was helpful in learning the numbers.

We don't operate a Beechjet anymore. I looked through my archives, and I wasn't able to find a copy of the file. However, if I come across it, I'll try to post it here.

Good luck with your new ride and have fun.

 

[flyr4hire]

Careful with sids/stars

ditto earlier post from Wrknstff, if there is a fly over point on the sid/star you could be setting yourself up for trouble. The 850 treats all points as fly-bys even if you sequence thru waypoints in the manual mode (thru the systems control)--If a sid/star doesn't have any fly overs, I file/fly 'em (Jaike into TEB) but if there is a fly-over (Barin into IAD and LAS) I don't. 850 leaves a lot to be desired vs the 5000 but if you learn to use its full capabilities, it is adequate.
600 degrees C on the ITTs is a good rule of thumb for climbs all the way up and provide enough thrust to maintain the 250kias/.70m profile CorpAV8r described.
Another useful number is 60% N1, configured for landing, at glideslope intercept for an ILS.