Re: Looking at 1994 Foretravel Grand Villa Unihome
Reply #30 –
Dave,
As I remember, the Beech Duke was the first pressurized medium twin. I had just been to the 1975 Mojave 1000 mile air race in my Tri-Pacer (watched the guy in front of me pull his gear up instead of the flaps with the engine running) and as I recall Leroy Penhall won the race . A DC-7 was third as it didn't have to stop for fuel. It was not long after the race that he had a load of passengers up a Mammoth Lakes Airport in his Duke and at night after dinner and possibly beverages, they took off without running the props up. Lost the engine from prop overspeed a few seconds after rotation and rolled it upside down onto the freeway next to the runway.
My Beech D50 with the exception of gearbox problems was pretty trouble free. I did lose engines twice (one right and the last time the left one) on takeoff and had a prop feather several times on approach (gearbox again). Always made sure to have 100 on the clock before even thinking about rotating (VMC was 89). I do know one thing. Drinking and flying a twin sure don't mix. You have to be quick when it happens or over she goes.
Pierce
Topic: Looking at 1994 Foretravel Grand Villa Unihome