The Beech Premier IA

But the Beechcraft Premier IA seems to deliver them all without much compromise, reminding us once again that aviation is all about periodic rises of the technological bar. The Premier is offered by the Beechcraft half of the ‘Hawker Beechcraft’, amalgamation, with Hawker specialising in the larger bizjets, while the Premier IA is the pinnacle of the a Beech product line that includes evergreen favourites the King Air and Bonanza – although confusingly, the improved Premier IIA, currently under development, has just been rebranded as the Hawker 200. Nonetheless, Beech has always strived to offer the best-in-class equipment, and the Premier is on par with its best.

The Premier’s extensive use of composites would not have been possible had it not been for the atypically radical Beech Starship exercise. Although that aircraft was not a commercial success, and ended up substantially overweight and under speed, it helped Beech to develop the methods used in the manufacture of the Premier fuselage. This structure is formed by computer guided fibre placement machines, not hand layup, essentially spinning a digitally defined cocoon, providing strength and thickness where it is required, and lightness where it is not. Beech claims the Premier composite fuselage is 20 per cent lighter and 70 per cent stiffer than a comparable aluminium structure would be. The result is an aerodynamically refined exterior surrounding the roomiest and most luxurious cabin of all the light jets. The fuselage is almost exactly circular, with the one piece wing structure passing under the passenger area. This allows an unobstructed walkway 1. 65m tall, and with no taper front to rear.

The Premier’s aisle allowed me to pass from front to back with barely a stoop of my 1. 88m frame.

As the fuselage gets its strength without metal stringers and structural bulkheads, there is a substantial amount of space left over for baggage, avionics, and easy service access. At the rear left was a large baggage area accessed by a swing-out door, and on the right a similar hatch exposed one of the systems bays for a quick and easy preflight.

The heated rear baggage area would easily accommodate numerous golf bags and/or skis. Another baggage bay is found in front of the cockpit, with avionics taking up the remainder of the forward space.

Composite construction is also used for the ailerons, flaps, and horizontal stabilisers, but the wing is a beautifully shaped aluminium structure. I know the military and large commercial airliners increasingly use composite methods for their wings, but I have a personal preference for the main lifting structure to be easily inspected and repaired. CAD/CAM manufacturing can very nearly duplicate the complex shapes previously limited to composites, and Beech has chosen the perfect mix of strength, weight, and efficiency in its material selections for the Premier IA. There are six single piece spars, and single piece upper and lower wing skins. The ailerons are assisted in roll control by three spoilers on each wing that also provide a lift dump and speed brake capability. Apart from a few small bays at the rear of the wing, it is completely filled by the 3670lb of fuel that can be carried.

Climbing up the air-stair you can immediately sense the ‘new car’ + wood + leather + polishing oil aroma that we associate with the upper tier of vehicles. The cabin demonstrated the challenge of being tastefully understated and impressively equipped at the same time. As the 1. 68m wide fuselage is so large, the six fully articulated cabin seats were able to be inset somewhat, preventing one’s head or feet from being cramped by the in-curving wall. Each has its own ‘secretary’ that handily folds out, and individual air and temperature controls.

The demonstration aircraft had the trim finished in a lovely dark wood, creating a feel somewhere between an aristocrat’s library and the office of his most recent divorce lawyer. The typical refreshment centre includes cold water, heated liquids, plus various storage areas for food, drinks, and ice. One can add an Airshow 410 real time flight information display, a 25cm viewing monitor and speaker, CD/DVD player, and headphones. Plus, the dedicated WC in the back adds both a bit of storage and privacy during those contemplative interludes.

Factory demonstration pilot Pete Kennedy led me to the front. Climbing into the right seat required a minor hurdle, but was entirely roomy once in place. The Premier is certified for single pilot operation, an increasingly practical option given the state of avionics installed. The Premier comes standard with the Collins ProLine 21 digital integrated avionics suite, including three screen EFIS, FMS, and autopilot, with full graphic presentation of real time charts giving weather, navigation, approach,ground operations, and geo-political boundaries as required. The aircraft does much of the thinking for you, including an electronic checklist, all presented on two primary flight displays and one multifunction display. High reliability and protection from BAD THING HAPPENING (BTH) is ensured by dual AHRS and air data computers, plus FSU, GPS, EGPWS, TCAS II, and radar, as well as an onboard maintenance diagnostic computer. A 115V power outlet is provided for laptop operation in the cockpit.

The engines are Williams FJ44-2As, each with 2300lb (10. 2kN) static thrust. Engine technology keeps nudging forward, and these engines offer the latest in high speed with low fuel consumption and highly predictable maintenance costs.

The basic warranty is comprehensive, offering five years on the airframe and Collins avionics, and three years/1500 hours on engines. The paint and interior is limited to two years/600 hours, but the quality I saw will certainly endure the use these aircraft will likely face.

The Premier IA can cruise at 451kt burning 1203lb/hr, with a long range economy option at 368kt reducing the burn to 657lb/hr. Where will this get you? It’s 1175nm range with four passengers, while short of transcontinental, is nonetheless impressive for an aircraft in this category.

I first saw the Premier IA being flown by NASA astronaut Hoot Gibson pulling hi-G turns around the pylons at the Reno Air Races in Nevada. Not the usual way to handle a business jet, and it raised my interest in it as an aeroplane. Our flight was to include close formation photography over Lake Tahoe, which is a great way to learn how an aeroplane handles – done safely. Our demonstration pilot Pete was retired RAF, but I decided this wasn’t an automatic disqualification. He was, in fact, quite charming and confident in his handling of the Premier.

The Beech marketing team delivered the aircraft to us at our staging airport of Carson City, Nevada, where we briefed for the formation and flight testing. I admitted to having zero jet experience, but was assured the aircraft was well behaved, and I was to be closely monitored in any case.

After a quick but competent walkaround, we boarded and got busy.

As noted, the compromises are very few in this aircraft, with impressive short field performance available in the same airframe capable of best-in-class speed. The performance charts reveal a wide range of optional configurations and loadings, but most missions would require only 3000 to 4000ft of runway, and these distances provide your choice of accelerate and takeoff to 35ft AGL, or accelerate to V1, lose an engine, and stop. Wow! After startup, I was allowed to taxi out via the smallish Carson City taxiways.

No problem. This is not a large aeroplane, and the handling is intuitive. Once on the runway, checks completed, we rolled. At this point we were much less than full fuel, and had only the two front seats filled.

Wow again! The Premier had far brisker acceleration than the high performance aerobatic aircraft I’ve been used to flying. In spite of warm temps and a field elevation of 4700ft MSL (about 1500m), we were off well before mid field, or about 900m, pulled up the gear, and quickly settled into a climb around 200-250kt. We had calculated a balanced field requirement of 1370m, but the soft purring of both Williams kept us from having to test the truth of the performance charts.

Pete was monitoring my flight, but I didn’t feel the need for his intervention.

The controls, although not light, were immediately effective with gentle inputs. We quickly found our camera ship, a Beech T-34, and began a tail chase planned to result in joining over the lake. Although I prefer to fly my own formation missions, given my vast three minutes of experience with jet controls, we agreed that Pete would handle the close work over Lake Tahoe.

The T-34 has an impressively wide speed range, and we had no problem slowing to about 120kt for the camera work. Our stall speed was around 100kt at our light weight, and we could have dropped this further with flaps. Although it was the end of summer, our altitude of 10,000ft over Lake Tahoe put us in crisp air, and our photographer Keith prefers to hang his head out in the cold at the slowest possible speed.

During our first approach to join, Pete quickly got us up close and personal, with the camera ship’s large attenuator exhausts a prominent feature in my windshield. Our closing speed was just a touch high, and our vertical stab well above the T-34, so we dropped out for a second try lest we split our companions in two. The second join-up was perfect, and I found myself looking at the inspection plates and placards along the belly and left side of the Premier’s older Beechcraft cousin. Turns and transitions were handled, and the head on shot completed without drama. I was amazed at the lack of bother, including the large amounts of cross control that were required for some of the shots. Yes, there is a rudder on a jet. It is, indeed, a very fine flying aeroplane.

After the aeronautical cheesecake was completed, Pete turned back the controls and off we went to fly around the Nevada desert. As a mundane, single engine aviation hobbyist, it was a moving experience for me to see how the top 0. 1 per cent gets to travel.

As might be expected, planning ahead becomes the challenge, as what is in the future becomes the present very quickly.

We had to pay attention to stay below the250kt speed limit imposed below 10,000ft, but jumped up for a moment to see how she accelerated and how the systems took care of the pilot. Beech and Collins have done more than give lip service to single pilot operation.

With seemingly telepathic intuition, the next required information was already on the screen when needed, frequencies found and accessed, and TCAS always looking out for conflicts.

We were flying in an intensive glider area, many of whom play in the wave up to 50,000ft and who do not have transponders, so I preferred to keep my eyeballs outside rather than in. The Premier was stable and just kept doing what was last instructed while my thoughts and eyes were elsewhere.

As the aircraft was soon required elsewhere, we did not spend the time to test climb and high altitude cruise behaviour, which could be to a maximum certified ceiling of 41,000ft. My goal was a ‘flight report’ and the phase above 10,000ft is largely relegated to an autopilot and FMS in any case. A look at the manual, however, told us that a climb from sea level to 41,000ft at mid weight would consume around 20 minutes while covering just over 100nm, and that the structure and systems would maintain an 8. 4 psi differential resulting in an 8000ft cabin pressure at this altitude.

As our attentions were first drawn by the aircraft’s sporting behaviour down low, we turned the nose back toward the airport and entered the pattern for some landings. Pete told me to maintain 125kt in the pattern, which wasn’t difficult in spite of the sense of financial weight in my hands. The full flap stall speed is between 81 and 95kt, depending upon the weight, with Vapp (safest approach speed for all considerations) ranging between 113 and 128, and Vref (1. 23 x Vsro) between 104 and 117. I found the controls to be soft, the trim readily at hand and suitably paced, and visibility as good as it gets. My chaperone handled the incidental systems, but I never felt overwhelmed and would expect single pilot operation to present an acceptable workload. I had an urge to raise the nose slightly over the hedge, but I think Pete surreptitiously inhibited this urge, ensuring that we ‘arrived’ rather than the more typical flare and soft touchdown.

This demonstrated the impressive shock absorbing capability of the landing gear, and was the technique one would use to achieve the shortest landing distance.

We elected instead to touch and go. Full throttle and we were off the ground in an instant. I brought the gear up, and found myself as we had before, climbing out at a bit over 200kt and several thousand feet per minute of vertical speed. OK, I was busy, so I didn’t look at the VSI so much as the mountains off the end of the runway growing rapidly closer. The second landing was to a full stop, but using the same max performance technique and aggressive braking brought us to a crawl in around 760m. We had to add some power to taxi to the mid field turnoff. Oh well, I wasn’t buying the tyres. I don’t think the RAF charges its pilots for consumables, either.

One must keep the mission in mind when assessing an aircraft’s success. This is a transport device intended for the successful business person or entrepreneur with a desire to travel in style y con brio. The single pilot qualification appeals to selfmade and self-reliant customers, although they might be advised by their boards of directors to take along a professional pilot in consideration of their value to the company.

Just as this article was being completed, Jack Roush of NASCAR fame managed to write off his Premier by smacking it into the runway while landing at the EAA flyin at Oshkosh, walking away with serious but survivable injuries. Any landing you can walk away from is a good one, right? Rather than seeing this as an impeachment of the Premier, I’d say it served to demonstrate the design’s strength and crashworthiness.

Perhaps this was why Pete gently kept me from easing up the nose over the numbers? It flies like a personal rocket, and deserves to have the numbers strictly respected.

Beech Premier IA
Technical specifications
Powerplants
Two 2300lb Williams International
FJ44-2As
Performance
Max cruise speed 454kt
Range with max payload 826nm
Range with full fuel 1460nm
Range with four passengers 1175nm
Ferry range 1485nm
Max operating altitude 41,000ft
Takeoff field length (MTOW) 1156m
Weights
Maximum takeoff 5670kg
Maximum landing 5262kg
Maximum zero fuel 4536kg
Maximum payload 635kg
Dimensions
Wingspan 13.56m
Length 14.02m
Height 4.67m
Manufacturer
Hawker Beechcraft Corporation
www.hawkerbeechcraft.com
Price
Mid US$6 million range, depending
upon options