beechcraft 1900 commuter airliner and light transport aircraft beechcraft 1900 a continental connection beechcraft 1900d role regional airliner cargo and corporate aircraft manufacturer beech aircraft corporation raytheon aircraft company first flight september 3 1982 introduction february 1984 status in service primaryusers ameriflightalpine air express central mountain air searca produced 19822002 number built 695 unit cost us 4995 million 2001 developed from beechcraft super king air the beechcraft 1900 is a 19passenger pressurized twinengine turboprop fixedwing aircraft that was manufactured by beechcraft it was designed and is primarily used as a regional airliner it is also used as a freight aircraft and corporate transport and by several governmental and military organisations with customers favoring larger regional jets raytheon ended production in october 2002 the aircraft was designed to carry passengers in all weather conditions from airports with relatively short runways it is capable of flying in excess of 600 miles 970km although few operators use its fullfuel range in terms of the number of aircraft built and its continued use by many passenger airlines and other users it is one of the most popular 19passenger airliners in history development an eagle airways beechcraft 1900d the 1900 is beechcrafts third regional airliner the beechcraft model 18 was a 6 to 11passenger utility aircraft produced from 1937 to 1970 used by the military airlines charter operations corporations for executive transport and freight carriers the 15passenger beechcraft model 99 airliner was designed to replace the beech 18 and was produced between 1966 and 1975 and from 1982 to 1986 it was also commercially successful and remains in common use with freight airlines such as ameriflight the beechcraft 1900s design lineage began in 1949 with the beechcraft model 50 twin bonanza a 5passenger reciprocating engine utility aircraft designed for the us army a larger passenger cabin was added to the twin bonanzas airframe and called the model 65 queen air this aircraft was in turn further modified by adding turboprop engines and cabin pressurization and named the model 90 king air a stretched version of the king air was later developed and designated the model 200 super king air beechcraft developed the beechcraft 1900 directly from the beechcraft super king air in order to provide a pressurized commuterliner to compete with the swearingen metro and the british aerospace jetstream the 1900 first flew on september 3 1982 with federal aviation administration faa certification awarded on november 22 1983 under special federal aviation regulation sfar 41c airworthiness standards the 1900 entered service in february 1984 many airlines continue to fly the 1900 design beechcraft 1900c since the 1900 is derived from the king air all 1900s share certain characteristics with that aircraft cockpit controls and operations are similar to those of the king air while federal aviation regulations require two pilots for passenger airline operations the 1900 is designed and certificated for singlepilot operation in corporate or cargo settings as is the king air propulsion the 1900 is powered by two pratt whitney canada pt6a turboprop engines the 1900 and 1900c use two pt6a65b engines each flat rated at 1100 shaft horsepower 820kw the 1900d uses two pt6a67d engines each rated at 1279 shaft horsepower 954kw the propellers are manufactured by hartzell with four blades on each propeller the blades are made from composite materials performance a sunwest aviation beechcraft 1900d at vancouver international airport the 1900d cruises at about 285 knots 328mph or 528kmh true airspeed ordinary trip lengths range from 100 to 600 miles 20 minutes to two hours but with full fuel tanks the aircraft is capable of flying well in excess of 1000 nautical miles 1900km the beechcraft 1900 can operate safely on relatively short airstrips and it can take off and land on grass and rough runways the airplane is certified to fly up to an altitude of 25000 feet 7600m above mean sea level with its pressurized cabin variants 1900 the original design is known simply as the beechcraft 1900 it features two airstair passenger boarding doors one near the tail of the aircraft much like the smaller king airs and a second at the front just behind the cockpit it has a small cargo door near the tail for access to the baggage compartment which is behind the passenger compartment only three airframes were built with ua serial numbers of ua1 ua2 and ua3 ua1 and ua2 are stored at a beechcraft facility in wichita kansas ua3 registered fab043 served in bolivia until it crashed in november 2011 1900c a republic of china air force 1900c1 at cck airfield in central taiwan it quickly became clear that having two airstair doors on an aircraft holding only 19 passengers was excessive in creating the 1900c beechcraft kept the front airstair but eliminated the aft airstair door installing an enlarged cargo door in its place other than the redesigned door layout the early 1900cs were substantially similar to the original 1900s these were assigned serial numbers starting with the letters ub a total of 74 ub version were built many of which remain in service aircraft in the ua and ub series employ a bladdertype fuel tank system in the wings later 1900cs use a wet wing fuel system entire sections of the wing are sealed off for use as fuel tanks this design change allowed more fuel to be stored substantially increasing the 1900cs range the wet wing 1900cs were assigned serial numbers beginning with uc these aircraft are also referred to as 1900c1s the wet wings proved popular and the uc is the most common version of the lowceiling 1900 with 174 uc airframes built raytheon manufactured six 1900c aircraft for use by the us military these were assigned ud serial numbers ud1 through ud6 1900d danish air transport beechcraft 1900c beechcraft 1900d t729 of the swiss air force arrives at the 2016 riat england while the 1900c had become a popular regional airliner beechcraft undertook a substantial redesign of the aircraft and in 1991 introduced a new version called the 1900d the 1900 and 1900c like most 19passenger airliners and small business jets have fairly small passenger cabins with ceilings so low that passengers cannot walk through the interior without bending forward the 1900d was designed to remedy this by providing a standup cabin which would allow most passengers to walk upright it is one of only two 19seat airliners with this feature the other being the british aerospace jetstream 3132 because the taller passenger cabin adds both weight and drag to the airplane other elements of the 1900d were also changed more powerful engines and modified propellers were installed winglets were added to reduce drag and increase the wings efficiency and the tail was made larger in response to the more powerful engines the cockpit was updated with an electronic flight instrument system efis the 1900d was certified under the thennew far part 23 commuter category standards which had replaced the earlier sfar 41c since the ud serial numbers were already in use by the military 1900s the 1900d airplanes have serial numbers beginning with ue the 1900d is the most popular version of the airliner with 439 of the 1900d built military c12j the us military designation for the beechcraft 1900c is c12j this is a variant of the c12 huron which is the most common designation for military king airs the c12j includes the 6 ud series beechcraft 1900s built for the us military as well as other 1900cs in us military service examples of c12j aircraft in military service include one used for gps jamming tests at the 586th flight test squadron holloman air force base new mexico king air execliner the king air execliner was a marketing name for a corporate version of the beechcraft 1900c operators civilian operators the cabin of an eagle airways beechcraft 1900d in july 2018 a total of 114 1900cs and 192 1900ds were in airline service 207 in the americas 63 in africa 25 in europe and 11 in the asia pacific and middle east airline operators with nine or more aircraft were ameriflight 25 1900cs alpine air express 19 1900cs and 4 1900ds searca 16 1900ds central mountain air 12 1900ds sonair 12 1900ds air georgian 11 1900ds skylink express 11 1900cs solenta aviation 11 1900ds exploits valley air services 10 1900ds twin jet 9 1900ds military operators military and government operators include algeria algerian air force operates six as of december2015 australia defence science and technology group bolivia ministry of national defence colombia colombian national police egypt egyptian air force operates ten as of december2015 france police nationale from 2007 to 2010 indonesia indonesian national police myanmar myanmar air force operates between seven and ten as of december2016 south sudan south sudan air force switzerland swiss air force operates a single aircraft as of december2015 taiwan republic of china air force operates 11 aircraft as of 2017 thailand royal thai army united arab emirates united states united states air force united states army accidents and incidents november 23 1987 a ryan air services 1900 crashed on approach to the airport at homer alaska flight 103 was fully loaded all 19 seats occupied 1437 pounds of cargo when it took off from kodiak the aircraft lifted off the runway fell back and accelerated for about another 15 knots before it became airborne the aircraft was approaching homer when it was cleared for the localizerdme approach to runway 3 the crew reported a 2mile 32km final five minutes later on short final the wings were seen to rock back and forth the aircraft then dropped steeply to the ground in a rather flat attitude struck the airport perimeter fence and slid to a stop on its belly both pilots and sixteen of the nineteen passengers were killed the investigation into the crash the first crash of a 1900 stated the probable cause as the failure of the flight crew to properly supervise the loading of the airplane which resulted in the center of gravity being displaced to such an aft location that the airplane control was lost when the flaps were lowered for landing may 18 1990 a beechcraft 1900c operating for aerolift philippines as flight 75 to surigao took off from runway 13 at manilas international airport during takeoff the no 2 engine failed the airplane began turning to the right as the crew radioed that they were returning to the airport with the undercarriage down and the flaps still in takeoff position the airplane impacted a house in the suburban paranaque neighbourhood all 21 on board the aircraft and a family of four inside the house were killed aug 21 1990 a republic of china air force 1900c crashed in yunlin county in central taiwan killing 18 officers on board december 28 1991 a business express airlines 1900c crashed during a training flight when the instructor refused to take back the controls after the students became disoriented due to heavily stressing conditions imposed by the instructor against the companys flight manual this conclusion was controversial as an investigation by the airline pilots association showed that there were many indications of catastrophic airframe failure not due to pilot error december 7 1995 an air st martin 1900d drifted off course and crashed into a mountain in haiti killing all 21 people on board november 19 1996 a united express 1900c collided on a runway with a beechcraft king air at quincy regional airport in illinois killing all 14 people on board both aircraft july 30 1998 proteus airlines flight 706 a 1900d collided in midair with a cessna 177rg over quiberon bay in france none of the 14 passengers and crew survived january 8 2003 air midwest flight 5481 a 1900d crashed into a hangar just after takeoff from charlottedouglas international airport in north carolina killing all 21 people on board august 26 2003 colgan air flight 9446 a beech 1900d operated for us airways express hit the water shortly after taking off from hyannis massachusetts both pilots died may 2 2008 a south sudan air connection 1900 leased from cem air crashed killing 22 people including southern sudans minister of defense november 9 2009 bluebird aviation ltd a 1900d crashed during a single engine landing at wilson airport in nairobi kenya killing the captain and seriously injuring the first officer november 5 2010 a 1900c flying for js air private limited experienced engine failure and crashed shortly after take off from jinnah international airport karachi killing all 21 on board including both crew members september 25 2011 a buddha air 1900d crashed in nepal during a return scenic flight from the himalayas killing 19 on board including 3 crew april 7 2013 a beechcraft 1900 disappeared with one occupant jerry krause missionary aboard february 9 2016 a myanmar air force 1900d crashed shortly after taking off from naypyidaw airport killing 5 officers on board specifications beechcraft 1900d data from raytheon beechcraft 1900d passenger specifications and performancegeneral characteristics crew 1 2 for airline operations capacity 19 passengers length 57 ft 8 in 1762 m wingspan 57 ft 9 in 1764 m height 15 ft 5 in 472 m empty weight 10434 lb 4732 kg useful load 6356 lb 2882 kg max takeoff weight 17120 lb 7764 kg fuel capacity 4458 lb 2022 kg fuel type jet a recommended others usable powerplant 2 pratt whitney canada pt6a67d turboprops 1279 shaft horsepower 955 kw each performance cruise speed 280 kts 322 mph 518 kmh at 20000 ft 6100 m range 382 nmi with 19 passenger payload 439 mi 707 km ferry range 1245 nmi 1432 mi 2306 km service ceiling 25000 ft 7620 m rate of climb 2615 ftmin 797 mmin avionics rockwell collins efis84 electronic flight instrument system related development beechcraft queen air beechcraft king air beechcraft super king air beechcraft model 99 aircraft of comparable role configuration and era antonov an38 british aerospace jetstream 31 de havilland canada dhc6 twin otter dornier do 228 embraer emb 110 bandeirante fairchild swearingen metroliner harbin y12 let l410 turbolet related lists list of military aircraft of the united states notes francillon ren j january 2001 1900 for 2000 the son of beech raytheon 1900 airliner air international pp5658 issn03065634 hoyle craig 814 december 2015 world air forces directory flight international vol188 no5517 pp2653 issn00153710 jackson paul 2003 janes all the worlds aircraft 20032004 coulsdon uk janes information group limited isbn9780710625373 phillips edward h beechcraft pursuit of perfection a history of beechcraft airplanes flying books eagan minnesota 1992isbn0911139117 wikimedia commons has media related to beechcraft 1900 beechcraft 1900 specifications airlinersnets background of the 1900 aviation safety network beechcraft 1900 data aviation safety network 1900 emergency exits airsafes list of fatal accidents involving the beechcraft 1900 federation of american scientists description of the military c12 globalsecurityorgs background on the c12j army c12 and be1900d aircraft vtebeechcraft raytheon aircraft and hawker beechcraft aircraft modelsbeechcraft designation 16 17 18 19 23 24 25 26 28 33 34 35 36 38 40 45 46 50 55 56 58 60 65 70 73 76 77 80 85 87 88 90 95 99 100 101 120 200 300 350 390 400 1074 1079 1300 1900 2000 3000 military xa38 at7 at10 at11 c43 c45 c6 c12 f2 l23 rc12 t1 t6 t34 xt36 t42 t44 u8 u21 gb jb1 jrb snb ct128 ct134 ct145 ct156 drone qu22 aqm37 mqm61a mqm107 hawker business jet line hawker 200 hawker 400xp hawker 750 800 800xp 850xp 900xp series hawker 1000 hawker 4000 