Photo ID: 1011268
click image to enlarge |
Model: BE-18T |
Registration: Several |
| Year: 1953-61 |
Serial Number: |
| Engine(s): PT6A-20 |
Owner: K&K Aircraft
Bridgewater, VA |
| Location: Los Alamitos, CA |
Photographer: Stoltzfus, Ken |
| Date: 2003, October |
Present Registration: |
Present Owner (FAA info): |
Notes: 10/21/03 - Four photogenic BE-18T's in a row.
My twin brother, Karl Stoltzfus, owns and operates five Beech 18's which have been converted to the P&W PT6A-20 turbine engines. They are used on various government contracts. You can learn more at Dynamic Aviation/K&K Aircraft.
I asked Karl recently how long the five would be together and he said, "Not long. One may be sold and the others will be on the market soon!" Oh!! They are a unique airplane and rarely do you find five Twin Beech's in one place. It sounded to me like a quick trip to the west coast.
We'll treat the five aircraft, one at a time, on down in this section. If the long history on some of them bores you, just skip over it. Also, you can scroll thru the photos without the text, if you enlarge the photo, and then click on NEXT at the bottom, right hand corner.
The BE-18T's have a gross weight of 11,230 pounds, which is nearly 50% useful load. Not many aircraft achieve that ratio! |
Photo ID: 1011269
click image to enlarge |
Notes: These Beech's must have been sitting around "swapping lies" as we say, and look what happened to their noses! All of Karl's 18's have the long, Hamilton nose. Actually, with those long nacelles they'd look pretty strange without it, wouldn't they? Two of these aircraft were Volpar Tri-gear aircraft at one point. |
| Photographer: Stoltzfus, Ken |
Photo ID: 1011270
click image to enlarge |
Notes: The eyes have it.
All of these aircraft have 25-28,000 hours total time! They are certainly the highest time Beech 18 fleet in the world. These are well-maintained aircraft and still have a lot of life in them. |
| Photographer: Stoltzfus, Ken |
Photo ID: 1011271
click image to enlarge |
Notes: There's a lot of history here. Corporate execs, and rich and famous passengers in years gone by. Then lots of cargo and more recently, billions of sterile Mediterranean Fruit Flies. The fifth aircraft was in the maintenance bay.
Karl has also parted out several BE-18T's, including E-18-S, s/n BA-43, N711DN; E-18S, s/n BA368, N342T; and possibly another. |
| Photographer: Stoltzfus, Ken |
Photo ID: 1011272
click image to enlarge |
Notes: Do you remember the kid who always sort of stood out in a grade-school photo? That's "3-8-Lima". The red rudders make it stand out like the kid who always had that certain grin that drew your eyes to him. |
| Photographer: Stoltzfus, Ken |
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www.FlyingHigher.net - Beech Aircraft
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