Based on a couple messages I've received I want to tell you about how we fly at Alpine Air. As a reminder, this is all just my personal opinion.
The BE99’s fly well and can handle some serious icing conditions, but honestly they’re pretty old and many of them look like it. While they may look a little ugly on the outside, we have a good maintenance team and they really are well maintained. I have never been forced to fly a plane I wasn't comfortable taking into the air. The BE99 is not pressurized, so you’ll be flying with a nasal cannula for oxygen up to 18,000 feet because there's lots of mountains in our area. To me the BE99 is a very fun and nimble aircraft, but it doesn’t like to trim out and just sit still for long periods so you're always truly involved when hand flying it, which is part of why it's a fun aircraft for me.
The B1900’s are smoother, quieter, and also handle ice extremely well. They’re much more comfortable because the engines are behind you, they're pressurized, and they have a better environmental system. They also trim out better and have a Yaw Damper system installed. However, while they do trim out better and the Yaw Damp lets you relax on the pedals, you're still always hand flying this aircraft as well.
Our aircraft are not automated. Both aircraft are flown single pilot, with a six pack of gauges, in all kinds of weather conditions, and mostly without an autopilot. Only a couple aircraft in our company, a couple of B1900’s, have an autopilot installed. So in our aircraft you’ll hand fly through all weather conditions, at all times, and usually all by yourself. It's a very connected kind of flying and it's the kind of flying that will really sharpen your raw skills.
For navigation we do have an approved EFB system so all of our logbooks, performance, and charts are on company issued iPads with a backup iPad mounted in each aircraft. The B1900 has touchscreen Garmin 750’s, and the BE99 has Garmin 500 series. We occasionally fly one or two short VFR hops, but most of our flying is done on IFR flight plans and we have a flight following department that monitors.
I hope this gives you a better idea on what you can expect.