Raytheon has just delivered the 500th Beechcraft King Air 350 in a special ceremony at the 2006 National Business Aviation Association convention. The customer, Spartan Chemical, has owned a King Air C90, a King Air 200 and this will be their fourth King Air 350.

“What has made the King Air 350 so successful – other than the excellent original King Air design – is that it has no peers in this industry,” said Brad Hatt, president, Commercial Aircraft.  “The King Air 350 is as close to a no compromise aircraft as you can get. It can carry over 2,600lbs of useful load allowing almost any combination of passengers, baggage and fuel; more than some competitive mid-size business jets.”

Spartan Chemical is a manufacturer of chemical specialty maintenance products and industrial degreasers. They use their King Air 350 to visit their more than 500 distributors as well as visit current and prospective customers.

The 500th Beechcraft King Air 350 and subsequent serial numbers will feature a new air conditioning system an improved vapor cycle refrigeration system. A compressor driven by the right engine operates as required in manual or automatic modes. Forward and aft vent blowers recirculate cabin air through the forward and aft evaporators and into the cabin and cockpit distribution ducts.

Beech Aircraft Corporation announced the King Air on Aug. 14, 1963.  Today, well over 6,000 King Air have been built and they are flown in 105 countries around the world.  Every service in the U.S. military flies King Airs for a variety of uses such as executive transport, electronic surveillance, air ambulance and a host of other missions.  The entire fleet since 1964 has amassed an estimated 10 billion miles – the equivalent of 143 round trips to Mars. No other business aircraft comes close.

“When you combine the King Air’s cabin-class comfort, its known-icing certification and its rugged, quality construction, you begin to realize what makes the King Air great,” says Hatt.  “It’s a haul-what-you-want, where-you-want aircraft – an SUV of the skies.”

FMI: www.raytheonaircraft.com