Beech 99 Airliner

The Beech 99 is an evolution of the successful Queen Air/King Air series, and shares the King Air's basic powerplant and layout, but otherwise is a new design, with a significantly lengthened cabin with greater seating capacity. Design of the 99 began in the late 1960s, in part to find a replacement for the venerable Beech 18. In December 1965 a stretched fuselage Queen Air was flown for the first time, while the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 powered prototype model 99 made its first flight in July 1966. The first customer aircraft was delivered in May 1968, the series then known as the Commuter 99. At the time the 99 was Beech's largest aircraft yet and Beech was optimistically forecasting a production rate of 100 per year. Subsequent models were the A99, A99A and B99, with differing powerplants, submodels and weights. The B99 was available in two variants, the B99 Airliner and the B99 Executive, a corporate transport version with seating for between eight and 17 passengers. Production of early models was halted in 1975, and it was not until 1979 that the improved C99 Commuter (plus the larger 1900, described separately) was announced as part of Beech's return to the commuter airliner market. A converted B99 fitted with P&WC PT6A34 engines served as the C99 prototype, and flew in this form for the first time on June 20 1980. Production aircraft featured PT6A36 engines, and deliveries recommenced following certification, both in July 1981. Shortly afterwards it became known as the C99 Airliner. C99 production ceased in 1986

The backbone of this section is from the The International Directory of Civil Aircraft by Gerard Frawley and used with permission. To get your own copy of the book click here.