Beech Sport/Sundowner

K

krudawg

Filing Flight Plan
Joined
Oct 16, 2023
Messages
6
Display Name
Display name:
Ted
I read about all the complaints about the "Low-Performing" Beech Sundowner/Sport and wanted to toss in my 2 cents. Back in 1975 I bought a 1972 Beech Sport for $8450.00. It had damage history - nose wheel broke on a hard landing. It was "Repaired". Yes the Beech Sport is slow and underperforms the Cherokee 140. I flew off a 1000 hours in 3 years enough to get my ATP and then I sold it for, wait for it, $8450. I loved that Beech. It had two doors, well-ventilated and roomy. It was a stable airplane and best of all -Cheap. The Sundowner is the same airframe with 180hp. Also a slow, low performance airplane considering other planes in its class. But here's the deal, if you are trying to build flight time to eventually finding a seat with a major airline (Like I did) you can either spend north of $100k for a Cessna 172 or spend about $75K on a Sundowner, and still have a nice airplane to build time in and then sell it. I highly recommend the Sport or Sundowner for building time - they can't be beat
 
Lots of time in a Sundowner for my IFR rating. Easy to fly (it's a Beach). 2 doors for easy in and out. 113kts - yeah that's the downside. Earned my PPL in a Grumman Tiger so was a bit spoiled on cruise speed from the start but I didn't really need much speed for the IFR rating. Of course the good ole days of fixed card ADF receivers and single line Northstar GPS units as a psuedo RMI/DME are long gone.
 
krudawg said:
Also a slow, low performance airplane considering other planes in its class.
Click to expand...

Not true. The other airplanes in the same class as the Baby Beeches are the various flavors of Piper Cherokees, so let's do some comparison. Here's the advertised numbers for both:

PIPER
1708046207760.png

BEECH
1708046331549.png

Not much difference between models with the same engines. The Beech Custom (B-23,the model I own) performs similarly to the Cherokee 180, yet has a roomier cockpit, greater fuel capacity (look at the range differences above), and longer wingspan. The Beeches have no onerous ADs and are very well built. Plus, as you say, they're less expensive to purchase.

My B-23 typically sees TAS of 138 to 142 mph (120 - 124 kts) depending on how she's loaded.
 
I had a bunch of hours in Beech’s back in the day, mostly in the C24R Sierra retractable. My impression back then was they seemed more solid than the typical offering from Cessna, Piper or Grumman American. Can’t say how well they’ve fared in the 40+ years since then, but I suspect they’ve held up as well or better than those other brands. In short, nice little planes.
 
I think the actual numbers will bear out my experience while I was building time. The little Beeches are built like a tank but they are slugs in the air, in my opinion, but I'd buy one again in a heartbeat because I just love that airplane
 
Beech built their airplanes a little stouter than their Cessna and Piper competition. That means they are a little heavier and thus usually have slightly less performance for the same power/fuel burn than the others, but they are roomier and good luck trying to pull the wings off of one.
 
Half Fast said:
My B-23 typically sees TAS of 138 to 142 mph (120 - 124 kts) depending on how she's loaded.
Click to expand...
At least when you moved from Sport to Private your speeds were the same. I learned to fly in a slow plane (65-70 mph cruise) so my 120 kt light sport eligible experimenal has speeds that seem quite spectacular ... :biggrin:
 
midwestpa24 said:
Beech built their airplanes a little stouter than their Cessna and Piper competition. That means they are a little heavier and thus usually have slightly less performance for the same power/fuel burn than the others, but they are roomier and good luck trying to pull the wings off of one.
Click to expand...
Well stated
 
Daleandee said:
At least when you moved from Sport to Private your speeds were the same. I learned to fly in a slow plane (65-70 mph cruise) so my 120 kt light sport eligible experimenal has speeds that seem quite spectacular ... :biggrin:
Click to expand...

Nah, the Tecnam LSAs I was flying would only hit 120 if I got out and pushed.
 
Half Fast said:
Nah, the Tecnam LSAs I was flying would only hit 120 if I got out and pushed.
Click to expand...

A number of Light Sport planes are like that. They can get 120 kts if the Rotax 912 is screaming in pain ... ;)
 
Daleandee said:
A number of Light Sport planes are like that. They can get 120 kts if the Rotax 912 is screaming in pain ... ;)
Click to expand...

I always had to laugh at the Piper Sport/Czech Sport aircraft. The design reminds me so much of the Lancair 320. It looks fast even when its sitting still. Then I saw one do a fly-by, I thought I was seeing it in slow motion! I always wondered what a IO-360 powered version would be like.
 
Have some time in a Skipper and a Beech Sport (B19)... not the fastest in their class, but at least you will be very comfortable eventually getting to where want to go. :)

And yes, they do have a solid well-built feel to them, and the maintenance is a little easy on the wallet... or it used to be.
 
Are parts hard to come by for the Beech Skipper?
 
Half Fast said:
Not true. The other airplanes in the same class as the Baby Beeches are the various flavors of Piper Cherokees, so let's do some comparison. Here's the advertised numbers for both:

PIPER
View attachment 125457

BEECH
View attachment 125459

Not much difference between models with the same engines. The Beech Custom (B-23,the model I own) performs similarly to the Cherokee 180, yet has a roomier cockpit, greater fuel capacity (look at the range differences above), and longer wingspan. The Beeches have no onerous ADs and are very well built. Plus, as you say, they're less expensive to purchase.

My B-23 typically sees TAS of 138 to 142 mph (120 - 124 kts) depending on how she's loaded.
Click to expand...
My entire beech experience is in a skipper (liked it for solo XC flights, even took it across the sierras into Bridgeport once) but it was slower, climbed at a lesser rate, and took more runway than 152s, IME.
With that caveat- is the beech poh more “optimistic” than the piper docs?
 
SFDukie said:
With that caveat- is the beech poh more “optimistic” than the piper docs?
Click to expand...

Don’t really know, but I’ve been told Piper is optimistic. My personal experience is that my B23 flies very close to book numbers. I don’t have any experience with the Skippers, though.

The baby Beeches are nose heavy and respond well to throwing some ballast in the back. A forward CG will rob several knots. I keep two 25lb shot bags and a tool bag against the aft bulkhead of the baggage compartment.
 
krudawg said:
Are parts hard to come by for the Beech Skipper?
Click to expand...

Don't know... but considering they only built a handful of them I would venture to say if they aren't hard, they will be expensive.
 
I've owned a '67 Musketeer (same family just an earlier model) for almost 9 years.

Aside from having to put up with the "slowness" quips, it's a fine plane to own.

Maintenance is cheap if you keep ahead of things and don't mind getting grease under your nails. Insurance ain't bad either.

Performance is acceptable for its class and function. Having a properly rigged bird and keeping the CG near aft limits definitely makes it go faster. X/c's are pleasant.

If you're in the upper percentile in weight and height, the extra room is nice.

These are easy birds to fly. Stories about how "hard" they are to land are way overblown.

Doing my IFR training now and can affirmatively say it's a good, stable IFR platform.
 
I always found Beech OEM Parts were more expensive than Cessna or Piper back when I owned my Sport. One nagging issue I had with mine was the hydraulic brake cylinder operated by each rudder pedal continued to leak. It was the hydraulic brake line fitting seemed to alway back off and start leaking. The fitting was a ***** to get a wrench on so after several years, I took it into the Beech Dealer and had their mechanic tighten it with their special wrenches every time it leaked. Hydraulic fluid ruined my carpet
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top