For those who like modern hardware, there is far less choice in twins
And it's no coincidence, that the only two modern certified twin piston designs on the market (DA42 & the Tecnam P2006T) are both particularly fuel efficient compared to the old twin dinosaurs.
Even though +30 year old twins can be had for almost give-away prices these days, there's almost no takers. Few people see any benefit or future in burning avgas at 26gph to travel 170 ktas & paying major mx bills on top, even if the initial acquisition cost is low.
I have a few hours in the P2006T and guess what, there is not one area where that plane even comes close to my airplane in performance. If you take a side that you can do 45 degree steep turns with two fingers on the yoke in my plane instead of wrestling with both hands in the P2006, here are a few other points:
I file 160 KTAS at 17 GPH, at 170KTAS I use a little more. The big bore Beech twins can be run lean of peak and typically flies 185 KTAS at 23 GPH. The Beech Baron is in production (and has been so continously since the fifties) and is the hottest piston twin out there as of today. Look at the numbers. Nothing else is even close.
I have a few hours in the P2006T and guess what, there is not one area where that plane even comes close to my airplane in performance.
Its spins better!
He he! I'll give you that. Are you referring to the flat spin incidents involving the TA? I think all of them were due to "improper operations". I have not played with that at all but at least at Vmc + 10, she behaves very nice on one.
Fair enough - the P2006T (which I've never flown) is a toy vs the Baron & most other twins. Range & speed is terrible. I hadn't heard about the spins either.
Btw, any bad points on the Baron? I briefly looked at one a while ago...
I thought the P2006 was designed for the FTO (ATPL training) market, which is a hugely significant market for twins.
I don't know the % of DA42s bought by FTOs but the numbers of those I know about far exceed the numbers owned by private owners.
The FTO market doesn't need any useful range, and the required payload is just 2 with no luggage.
Bad points on the Baron:
I don't know if you have the 2000kg limit in your area but here in Europe it is what keeps the Barons from selling much.
Some find the Barons noisy. There are mods to quiet them down though and I think the newer are much more quiet than the older ones. (Funny though, that the E95 is almost identical to the B55 Baron except the tail finn and engines and is so much more quiet),
IMHO (many will tell you otherwise) the Continental IO 520s and 550s used in most Barons seldom make it to TBO without some kind of major fix half way (cyl replacements, top overhaul). I've heard that this improves significantly when you run them lop.
Due to the high power there is less room for error if you loose one. Never tried but that's what they say.
Barons from 2006 and after have G1000. Beechcraft is expected to introduce a new Baron (turbocharged, fadec). The best source on Barons on the internet is beechtalk.com.
You certainly do need to get a decent return on your plane to make the Eurocontrol charges worth paying.
The slickest plane I have ever flown in was a done up 421C and that had the mission capability of a King Air, more or less.
But at the level of a Seneca or such I can't see the point of being just over 2T.
The European consequence is that some people fly "VFR" but paradoxically for that you are more likely to need good deice gear because you can't usually get a climb up to VMC. And obviously it's illegal to penetrate IMC :)
To be fair to the twins, I think the key safety attribute is maintaining cruise or safe alt. They are vulnerable in climb but then of course so are we single pilots.
The slickest plane I have ever flown in was a done up 421C and that had the mission capability of a King Air, more or less.
If you flew or operated a King Air a little you would see that just cannot be true. Piston engine reliability (particularly with turbocharged, geared units), comfort and vibration levels are totally different to the PT6. And that's before we get to the pressurisation, cabin volume, electrical and avionics systems, and all round "brick outhouse" build quality, all of which combines to a really top notch despatch record.
