Maxcraft orchestrated the complete transformation of this privately owned Beech King Air B100 from a swiss cheese panel with mostly original instrumentation, into a modern, one of a kind machine. With dual electronic primary flight displays from Garmin, Dual GTN 750s, and the S-TEC 3100 digital autopilot, this King Air will be a totally new airplane to the pilots. No detail was overlooked on this project. Every single panel, knob, cover plate, and much more, was completely refurbished. Partnering with our friend’s at Port Interiors, the interior aging original interior was replaced with an all custom interior that is truly fit for a King.

King Air B100 Complete Transformation

1976 Beech King Air B100

Aircraft & Owner:

The King Air is a twin turboprop aircraft popular for business and pleasure travel. With production starting in 1964, the King Air quickly rose to popularity outselling all their competition. Today, the King Air is often a top choice for businesses needing to transport employees and executives between locations on a tight schedule. The B100 variant is one of the rarer versions of the King Air. The King Air B100 was Beechcraft’s solution to an engine shortage due to a strike at the Pratt & Whitney Canada factory which halted production of the PT6A engine found on the A100 King Air. With completed aircraft sitting outside the Beech factory with everything but an engine, Beech began developing a version of the A100 using the Garrett TPE311 turbine engine in place of the traditional PT6A. In fact the B100 is the only King Air ever made without the PT6 engine. To compare, the B100 will outpace the King Air A100 (with P&W engines) by 30+ knots for the same fuel burn. This particular King Air was purchased not long before coming to Maxcraft and is destined to be used as a commuter aircraft between the mainland United States, and the Cayman Islands while being based in the Caribbean. The owner of this King Air is a close friend of Maxcraft’s and this is not his first time bringing his aircraft to us. Just two years ago he brought us. Two years ago, while flying his factory new Piper M600, he flew up to Maxcraft where we performed warranty work. You can read about that story here.

Need:

Our customer wanted a turnkey solution to turn this dated King Air B100 into an amazing workhorse without sparing a single detail. This would include a complete avionics overhaul leaving the panel almost unrecognizable from the original. With modern primary flight displays replacing the multitude of analog instruments, and touchscreen GPS navigators replacing the antiquated navigation equipment, this King Air looks like a brand-new aircraft.

Since this aircraft is the customer’s pride and joy, we teamed up with one of our Trusted Affiliate Network partners, Port Interiors to create a one-of-a-kind custom interior for this King Air. This would include replacing the leather on the passenger seats, new sheepskin pilot and copilot seats, all new trim pieces throughout the aircraft, and even the stairs into the aircraft were upgraded.

NEW EQUIPMENT LIST

Maxcraft Solution:

If you’ve been keeping up with our projects lately, this aircraft might remind you of another King Air we worked on not too long ago. This is the second King Air B100 we’ve worked on in a short period of time, both receiving very similar avionics. You can read about the last King Air we worked on here.

While these aircraft received similar avionics stacks, the King Air featured today truly went above and beyond in every way imaginable. No detail was spared on this aircraft, both with avionics, and interior.

The dual G600 TXi touchscreen primary flight displays replace the many analog instruments in front of both the pilot and copilot. The G600 is designed specifically for larger, heavier aircraft which fall under the United States Part 23 Class 3, which have a maximum takeoff weight between 6000 lbs and 12,500 lbs. While this aircraft is planned to be flown privately, the owner wanted to make sure it would be easy to operate it in any environment. With many commercial operators opting to fly aircraft of this size in a dual crew configuration. For this reason we installed two G600 TXi primary flight displays making it easy to operate in a two crew environment.

Garmin’s GTN 750 Xi is the perfect companion for the G600 PFDs. We made sure to perfectly integrate the GTN750 Xi with the newly installed systems allowing the crew to get the most out of all the equipment available to them. The GTN 750Xi is a touchscreen flight navigation system. Taking on the job of a traditional Nav/Comm system providing VHF navigation and communications, as well as highly accurate WAAS GPS, the GTN 750Xi has a wide variety of features to reduce pilot workload during IFR flight. As a secondary nav/comm/GPS we installed a legacy GTN 750, which will provide much needed redundancy in an IFR aircraft of this size.

One of the most exciting parts of this upgrade was Garmin’s GDL 60. This box hidden away out of sight opens up some amazing capabilities with the integrated avionics suite. The GDL 60 is a wireless datalink that enables Garmin’s PlaneSync technology. By utilizing Wi-Fi and LTE cellular connectivity, the GDL 60 will keep all the avionics onboard up to date, as well as constantly pushing certain information up to Garmin’s cloud system. Pilot’s can look in the Garmin Pilot app to see how much fuel their aircraft has on-board in real time, along with some other aircraft system metrics. Pilot’s can also push their flight plans from their EFB to the GTN 750 Xi navigator seamlessly. The GDL 60 also simplifies post flight data processing. After each and every flight, the GDL 60 will push all the available metrics from your avionics up to Garmin’s cloud where you can review it at any time.

The GTN 750 Xi will also be used as a multifunction display to control many of the remote mounted systems located throughout the King Air. Located in the nose of the King Air is Garmin’s GWX 75 digital weather radar. This advanced weather radar provides high definition colour scans of the environment ahead of the aircraft scanning up to 120 degrees horizontally allowing the crew to avoid troublesome storms when flying in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC). The weather radar is entirely controlled by the GTN 750 Xi, where pilots can select different modes, scanning patterns, and view the readings of the weather radar. As an addition to the GWX 75, our customer insisted on Garmin’s GWX 8000 StormOptix. This software enablement to the GWX 75 vastly simplifies the complex operation of a traditional weather radar, while also displaying 4 times more colours, and enhancing situational awareness. Our customer was so adamant about this upgrade because of his experience flying with it in his M600. He truly couldn’t imagine going back to a standard weather radar after his time behind the StormOptix system.

The GTN 750 Xi is also the control center for the remote mounted audio panel. With headset jacks throughout the aircraft, interested passengers will be able to don a headset and listen in on the pilots communications with each other, and air traffic control. Along with headset jacks, USB ports were scattered throughout the cabin allowing passengers to keep their devices charged on even the longest of legs. Charging ports on the instrument panel will keep the pilot’s electronic flight bags fully charged.

To the left of the pilot’s primary flight display is Garmin’s GI 275 electronic flight instrument. This small 3.25” instrument has a high-resolution touchscreen which displays everything the pilot needs to maintain safe flight, such as altitude, attitude, airspeed, and heading. With a built-in battery backup, the GI 275 will continue providing vital information, even during a complete electrical failure, ensuring the aircraft can make it home.

Garmin’s GTX 345 is their premier transponder solution. Providing compliance with the ADS-B mandate in Class A, B, and C airspace in the United States, this King Air will be able to fly throughout the United States, including in the flight levels. Additionally, the GTX 345 acts as an ADS-B in source providing the pilots with traffic reporting of other ADS-B targets, and some weather information when in range of a ground station.

The upgrade we think the pilot’s flying this King Air will appreciate the most is the S-Tec 3100 digital autopilot from Genesys. The Genesys S-TEC 3100 is one of the top solutions for autopilots in aircraft today. This fully featured autopilot can hold altitudes, airspeeds, and headings, and thanks to the GTN 750Xi it is able to fly precision approaches, including automatic missed approaches with the touch of the “go around button”. But the Genesys S-TEC 3100 digital flight control system is much more than just an autopilot. On top being a powerful all digital 3-axis autopilot, it also has a wide variety of safety features such as straight and level recovery allows the pilot to bring the aircraft to level the wings and nose with the press of a single button.

The Story:

Due to the amount of old equipment we removed, new equipment we installed, and the extensive interior work which was also completed, we reweighed the aircraft to get an accurate weight and balance document created. After all was said and done, we were able to reduce the empty weight of this aircraft by 116.9lbs. That’s more than an extra 17 gallons of Jet-A, or more useful load for baggage/passengers.

While the avionics we installed in this aircraft are impressive, and some of the best available on the market today, we think most people who step foot on this aircraft are going to notice the extensive rejuvenation we did to the interior and panels long before they see the bright displays in the cockpit.

We designed and custom cut a formed instrument panel, which would also include powder coating the instrument panel a perfect black to match the rest of the interior. With all the relevant placards, and labels laser engraved onto the panel, this panel will continue looking stunning for decades to come.

While the panel is a major part of upping the appearance of the cockpit, our customer truly wanted to bring this King Air to the next level. Almost all of the overlays for the many circuit breakers, switches, and knobs were sent out for refurbishment which included changing them from a dated looking tan colour, to a sleek black colour. Every single panel, knob, cover plate, and basically anything else the pilots may touch in the cockpit was completely refurbished, often times to a better condition than when it left the factory. This one simple upgrade, combined with the panel truly transformed the appearance of the cockpit.

Now that all of our upgrades have been completed, the aircraft is headed to the paint shop where it will be stripped down to bare metal and completely repainted.

We’ve partnered with Port Interiors on countless projects over the many years we’ve been partners. Once again Port has blown us away with an absolutely beautiful end result making this King Air truly one of a kind.

Interior After:

Interior Before: