Originally Posted by
trafly
Are you smoking crack?!? Of course you're not happy about moving from an airliner to a Beechjet, but get a grip. I have 3000 hrs in the BE-400A and, while not my favorite plane, it's a solid performer and incredibly well built. Unstable? Not a chance. High wing loading means a very smooth ride and the airplane is about as stable as your couch. Useful load with full fuel is about 600 to 700 lbs with range in the neighborhood or 1000nm or so. With 6 pax you still have about 750nm range. It's a good airplane for 3 or 4 pax up and down the coast. More than 5 in the cabin and things get cramped in a hurry, but this is a light jet after all. As for V1 cuts, they are a non-issue for any competent pilot. All in all, it's a rock solid airframe with very good runway performance, good avionics (but a bit dated compared to Proline), a decent cabin, and flight controls that give you a good upper body workout.
Well I must be smoking crack if I don't love your beechjet. I HATED flying that airplane and No I don't have big shiny jet syndrome. I love the king airs and would take a 350 over a beechjet any day. I didn't have any problem doing V-1 cuts in it but I always figured if I really lost one at V-1 in the underpowered pig then I would probably climb just enough to hit the tree tops. If you put 600-700 pounds of fuel in the beechjet and fly 1000nm you are either taking off overweight or landing with no gas. Let's not even get into taking it out in the western mountains. It becomes VFR only unless you don't bother with required climb gradients.