Beechcraft 1900 Beechliner

The Beechcraft 1900 is a twin-engine turboprop regional airliner of American manufacture, produced by Beechcraft. Also employed as a freighter, as a business transport and by several civil government agencies and armed forces, it entered service in February 1984. Derived from the Super King Air, it carries 19 passengers from short runways and in all weather conditions, with a range of more than 970 km.

Development

The 1900 is Beechcraft's third regional airliner after the Model 18 and the Model 99. Its lineage goes back to the Model 50 Twin Bonanza of 1949, widened into the Model 65 Queen Air, then fitted with turboprops and a pressurised cabin as the Model 90 King Air, before being stretched into the Model 200 Super King Air. Beechcraft derived the 1900 directly from it to compete with the Swearingen Metro and the British Aerospace Jetstream. The first flight took place on 3 September 1982 and FAA certification was granted on 22 November 1983 under SFAR 41C; the 1900D was later certified under FAR Part 23 "Commuter Category". The ExecLiner business version was delivered from 1985. In 1991, a 1900D Airliner was priced at $3.95 million. Raytheon ended production in October 2002 in the face of demand for 50- to 90-seat regional jets; 695 were built.

Design

The cockpit controls and procedures are close to those of the King Air. The 1900 differs by a lengthened fuselage and "stabilons", small horizontal surfaces at the rear of the fuselage intended to counter the blanking of the T-tail at high angles of attack. The 1900D received additional fins, winglets, an enlarged tail and a raised cabin allowing stand-up headroom. The 1900 and 1900C use two 1,100 hp Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-65Bs, the 1900D two 1,279 hp PT6A-67Ds, with Hartzell four-blade composite propellers. The 1900D's avionics include a Rockwell Collins EFIS-84 electronic flight instrument system. The 1900D cruises at 280 kn at FL230 burning 350 kg/h, has a ceiling of 25,000 ft and takes off from 1,140 m runways at 7,690 kg; it can operate from grass and unprepared strips. The aircraft is certified for flight in icing conditions and for single-pilot operation in cargo or business use.

Operational History

In July 2018, 114 1900Cs and 192 1900Ds were in commercial service: 207 in the Americas, 63 in Africa, 25 in Europe and 11 in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. Military and government users include Algeria, Colombia, Egypt, France (Police Nationale), Myanmar, South Sudan, Switzerland, Taiwan and Zambia, as well as the US Air Force, the US Army and the US Department of State. One C-12J is used for GPS jamming trials with the 586th Flight Test Squadron at Holloman AFB, and three others equip the 459th Airlift Squadron at Yokota. Accidents include Aerolift Philippines Flight 075 (25 dead, 18 May 1990), Air Midwest Flight 5481 (21 dead, 8 January 2003) and the crash of a Light Air Services 1900D near the Unity oil field on 29 January 2025 (20 dead).

Variants

• 1900: initial version with two passenger airstair doors, three built (UA-1 to UA-3).
• 1900C: rear airstair door replaced by a large cargo door; 74 "UB" aircraft with bladder fuel tanks, then 174 "UC" aircraft with a wet wing offering increased range.
• 1900D: stand-up cabin version with PT6A-67D engines, winglets and an EFIS cockpit, 439 built.
• Super Freighter: cargo conversion of the 1900D certified under an STC for Alpine Air Express, offering 25 m³ of usable volume, 30% more than the 1900C.
• C-12J: US military designation of the 1900C, including the six "UD" airframes delivered new to the armed forces.