What Twin

[BD King]

Hahaha...the corporate outfit that had a DUKE based at the Shawano airport is bankrupt because of that airplane. I'd say that if you only had 80K to spend on a piston twin and you bought a DUKE with that money, you or your family will be filing bankruptcy within 1.5 years, if you still own that plane.

Everybody complains about a Duke. I drove one for almost a thousand hours, and quite frankly had no problems, out of the ordinary, with it. As with most of the Beechcraft products, it was a very nice instrument platform.


www.bdkingpress.com

 

[Lead Sled]

Everybody complains about a Duke. I drove one for almost a thousand hours, and quite frankly had no problems, out of the ordinary, with it. As with most of the Beechcraft products, it was a very nice instrument platform.

I've only flown a Duke a couple of times; but like I said, I got several hundred hours in a 56TC with the Duke engines. Never ever had a problem with the engines. Along these same lines, I've got nearly three thousand hours in Cessna 421s with the geared Continentals and never had a problem with those either. The key to operating engines is to RTFM - a concept foreign to some pilots.

'Sled

 

[sky37d]

How about a Pressurized Skymaster. Good cruise, good legs, good payload, safe.

http://www.337skymaster.org/messages/attachment.php?s=&postid=8701

 

[crash-proof]

I found a picture http://1000aircraftphotos.com/GeneralAv/1359.htm and a story http://www.planeandpilotmag.com/content/2004/feb/it_slug.html on the Lancer. I heard that although it was a fixed gear plane, that it had a handle or switch for the non-existant retractable gear so as to teach retractable gear procedures. Crazy!

Ha! I love this comment on the lancer:
"... It’s a rare bird and the only multi-engine airplane known to me that, with an engine failure, has a single-engine ceiling below sea level....

 

[westwind]

crash-proof, looking at your avatar, you will probably like this oddball too. http://www.airbum.com/articles/ArticleSuperVTwinBonanza.html . Not too many of them made though.

 

[awacs941]

Semionole! Can't Beat The Mindless Set Up Of Them.. Looks like the designers just regurgitated on the panel and forgot about it...

 

[Flyin Tony]

How about a Skymaster. Good cruise, good legs, good payload, safe.

Wow I passed one of them today with 1 engine. And its a 337, I would pass on that. I did find a Lancer forsale for about 40k

 

[NuGuy]

I'm surprised no one mentioned this one:

Grumman Cougar (that is, the light twin Cougar)

Performance on par with a Duchess or Seminole, but on 40HP less (it has O-320s versus O-360s).

Great planes to fly if you can find one...

Nu

 

[bigD]

awacs941 - I'm kicking you in the nuts! I warned you!

I have a couple hundred hours of dual given in the Cougar, and I agree that it's a good trainer. Duchess or Seminole performance on 160 per side. Plus, it's wider than either and sits up higher, making it feel like a bigger plane. It's the easiest twin I've ever flown.

But for a personal twin, the Cougar suffers from the same problems that the Seminole and Duchess do - mainly performance. It's a 150 knot airplane, maybe 155 knots if you push it.

 

[Flyin Tony]

How about the Turbo Aztec?