Turbine Duke or turbine Baron?

I got an email response from the guys at Rocket Engineering about their
PT6A conversion of a P-Baron. He mentioned they're finishing STC work
for their turbine Duke conversion and I wondered which airplane might
make the better platform for conversion. Their preliminary numbers for
the -21 engined P-Baron are : Max climb rate 5000ft/min, useful load
2050, time to climb to 25,000 7min., high speed cruise of 300+ kts at
FL250 @ 64gph, long range cruise 250+ kts at FL250 @ 46gph which sounds
pretty impressive (to me, anyway) but I wonder if the Duke would be any
faster with the same power? I've read here previously that the Duke is
pretty draggy as airframes go and should/could be faster with its 380hp
Lycs. With a stated cost of $767k for the Duke with new -21 engines it
sounds like that a pretty cheap way to go fast (everything's relative,
right?)

Wooly

The Duke would be the way I'd go. The Duke was designed for
high altitudes and has a better panel, and cabin. The Baron
will be unstable at 300 TAS and twitchy...
For the same money, as the conversion, you could probably
buy a B or C90 King Air and have a real cabin class, but the
Duke is a nice flying airframe and it is very strong and
heavily built.

I would be most interested in prop/ground clearance issuers,
are they using 4 bladed props?


--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

wrote in message
oups.com...
|I got an email response from the guys at Rocket Engineering
about their
| PT6A conversion of a P-Baron. He mentioned they're
finishing STC work
| for their turbine Duke conversion and I wondered which
airplane might
| make the better platform for conversion. Their preliminary
numbers for
| the -21 engined P-Baron are : Max climb rate 5000ft/min,
useful load
| 2050, time to climb to 25,000 7min., high speed cruise of
300+ kts at
| FL250 @ 64gph, long range cruise 250+ kts at FL250 @ 46gph
which sounds
| pretty impressive (to me, anyway) but I wonder if the Duke
would be any
| faster with the same power? I've read here previously that
the Duke is
| pretty draggy as airframes go and should/could be faster
with its 380hp
| Lycs. With a stated cost of $767k for the Duke with
new -21 engines it
| sounds like that a pretty cheap way to go fast
(everything's relative,
| right?)
|
| Wooly
|

The spec sheet he included said 4 blade Hartzells.

Interesting point about the Baron's behavior at 300kts - at approx
50-60kts faster than the piston engined plane's cruise speed I'm
guessing trim might be a bit more critical. That alone might make the
plane twitchy, as it was never designed to go that fast.

A quick check on ASO found a bunch of C90 and E90s for the same dough,
although they wouldn't have new engines as the converted Barons and
Dukes.

High altitude. thinner air, stability become more critical.
Higher speeds can actually get into Mach problems. The Duke
is certified to 30,000 feet and the P58 Baron to only
25,000.


--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

wrote in message
oups.com...
| The spec sheet he included said 4 blade Hartzells.
|
| Interesting point about the Baron's behavior at 300kts -
at approx
| 50-60kts faster than the piston engined plane's cruise
speed I'm
| guessing trim might be a bit more critical. That alone
might make the
| plane twitchy, as it was never designed to go that fast.
|
| A quick check on ASO found a bunch of C90 and E90s for the
same dough,
| although they wouldn't have new engines as the converted
Barons and
| Dukes.
|

I guess that would explain why the speeds are quoted at FL250 for the
Baron. I assume then the ASI must be replaced with a unit with a Vmo
indicator? If the Duke is cert up to 30k does that mean its cabin diff
is higher than the P-Baron?

I seem to remember they are all at about 5 PSI.


wrote in message
oups.com...
|I guess that would explain why the speeds are quoted at
FL250 for the
| Baron. I assume then the ASI must be replaced with a unit
with a Vmo
| indicator? If the Duke is cert up to 30k does that mean
its cabin diff
| is higher than the P-Baron?
|

wrote in message
oups.com...
I got an email response from the guys at Rocket Engineering about their
PT6A conversion of a P-Baron. He mentioned they're finishing STC work
for their turbine Duke conversion and I wondered which airplane might
make the better platform for conversion. Their preliminary numbers for
the -21 engined P-Baron are : Max climb rate 5000ft/min, useful load
2050, time to climb to 25,000 7min., high speed cruise of 300+ kts at
FL250 @ 64gph, long range cruise 250+ kts at FL250 @ 46gph which sounds
pretty impressive (to me, anyway) but I wonder if the Duke would be any
faster with the same power? I've read here previously that the Duke is
pretty draggy as airframes go and should/could be faster with its 380hp
Lycs. With a stated cost of $767k for the Duke with new -21 engines it
sounds like that a pretty cheap way to go fast (everything's relative,
right?)

Wooly


For the same money, you could buy a Mitsubishi Solitaire and go faster with
a larger cabin and (probably) more reliable systems. I did see the turbine
Duke when it landed in Sandpoint and it looks great.

Mike
MU-2

"Mike Rapoport" wrote in message news:m5Zmf.2241

I did see the turbine Duke when it landed in Sandpoint and it looks great.

Which Sandpoint? Alaska?

John Gaquin wrote:
"Mike Rapoport" wrote in message news:m5Zmf.2241


I did see the turbine Duke when it landed in Sandpoint and it looks great.


Which Sandpoint? Alaska?

There's a Sandpoint in Alaska?

Idaho.


"John Gaquin" wrote in message
. ..

"Mike Rapoport" wrote in message news:m5Zmf.2241

I did see the turbine Duke when it landed in Sandpoint and it looks great.

Which Sandpoint? Alaska?