Beechcraft 76 Duchess

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Beechcraft 76 Duchess
Beechcraft 76 Duchess
Type: twin-engine light aircraft
Design country:

United StatesUnited States United States

Manufacturer:

Beechcraft

First flight:

September 1974

Commissioning:

1978

Production time:

1977-1982

Number of pieces:

437

The Beechcraft 76 Duchess is a four-seat, two- piston-engine powered aircraft from the US manufacturer Beechcraft , which made its maiden flight in 1974.

history

The first flight of the prototype, initially known internally as the PD 289 , took place in September 1974. In contrast to the series machine, the prototype was equipped with less powerful engines of 160 hp each.

The development was based on a requirement of the Beech Aero Center , the manufacturer's training network, to offer particularly good maneuverability in the event of an engine failure as well as good-natured slow flight characteristics.

After lengthy testing, the first production machine finally flew on May 24, 1977, now with engines of 180 hp each. The Beechcraft 76 Duchess received type certification from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on January 24, 1978, followed by its first delivery in May 1978.

construction

The Duchess was designed as a cantilever all-metal low-wing aircraft, with the construction of which the glued sandwich construction was used to a considerable extent for the fuselage and wings . The wings were given a V-position of 6.5 degrees; the swept tail fin is combined with a T-tail . The nose wheel landing gear is hydraulically retractable; the landing flaps are operated electrically.

The cabin, which is designed for four people, has individual seats with adjustable backrests at the front and a bench at the rear. The cabin is equipped with a door on both sides; A luggage compartment for a maximum of 90 kg is accessible via a separate flap on the left.

Two counter-rotating, air-cooled four-cylinder piston engines Lycoming O-360 -A1G6D (or LO-360), each with 180 hp (134 kW) drive Hartzell - pitch propeller on. In each wing half there is a fuel tank with filler neck. The total capacity is 378 liters (flyable).

Versions

Cockpit of a Beechcraft 76 Duchess

Flight tests began on January 31, 1979 with a turbocharged version of the engines, the Lycoming TO-360, also each with 180 hp. After 43 flights, however, this program was discontinued and production remained with the unchanged basic version.

use

In Germany, a total of 11 Beech Duchess had been approved by the end of 2015.

Sales figures / deliveries

In 1978, the first year of series production, 72 units were delivered. Although the number soared to 213 in 1979, it fell again to 86 in 1980 and to 55 in 1981. Deliveries finally went down to 11 last year (1982).

Incidents

So far, only one total loss of a Duchess is known from the German-speaking area: On July 28, 1982, when the Duchess with the aircraft registration D-GINY crashed in a forest near Neusäß in the Augsburg district (Bavaria), both occupants were killed.

Technical specifications

The data was taken from the sources listed below.

Parameter Data
crew 1
Passengers 3
length 8.84 m
span 11.58 m
height 2.89 m
Wing area 16.81 m²
Wing extension 7.973
payload 381 kg
Empty mass 1116 kg
Max. Takeoff mass 1769 kg
Cruising speed 293 km / h or 158 kts
Top speed 317 km / h or 171 kts
Service ceiling 6000 m or 19,650 ft
Range 1317 km or 711 NM NM
Engines 2 counter-rotating, air-cooled four-cylinder boxer engines Lycoming O-360 -A1G6D (or LO-306), each 180 PS (134 kW)

Comparable types

See also

literature

  • AJ Pelletier: Beech Aircraft and their Predecessors. Putnam, London 1995, ISBN 0-85177-863-1 .
  • Peter Alles-Fernandez: Aircraft from A to Z, Volume 1 . Bernard & Graefe Verlag, Koblenz 1987, ISBN 3-7637-5904-2 .
  • William Green: Planes of the World, 1979/80 . Werner Classen Verlag, Zurich 1979, ISBN 3 7172 0283 9 .
  • John WR Taylor: Jane's All The World's Aircraft, 1980-81 . Jane's Publishing, London 1980, ISBN 0 7106-0705-9 .

Web links

Commons : Beechcraft Duchess  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Jane's 1980, p. 268.
  2. ↑ Rod Simpson: The General Aviation Handbook , Midland Publishing 2005, ISBN 1-85780-222-5 , p. 50.
  3. ↑ Alles-Fernandez, p. 187.
  4. ↑ a b Green, p. 40.
  5. ↑ a b Alles-Fernandez, p. 188.
  6. ↑ a b Pelletier, p. 162.
  7. ↑ coptercrazy: Beech 76 Duchess (English) , accessed on January 27, 2016.
  8. ↑ accident report D-GINY, Aviation Safety Network / Wikibase (English) , accessed on 27 January 2016th
  9. ↑ Green, p. 41.
  10. ↑ Jane's 1980, pp. 268-269.
  11. ^ William Green: Observers Book of Aircraft . Frederick Warne Publishing, 1980, ISBN 0-7232-1604-5 ( English ), p. 48.