Sunclowner

system are located on the lower left- hand side of the panel, within easy reach of the pilot. Engine gauges are grouped below them. The throttle and the carburetor heat and mixture controls are mounted in a center quadrant. Circuit breakers are located on the far right-hand side. N6697Y is equipped with the op- tional electric wing-flap system. The three-position flap selector switch is located on the right of the power quadrant. To reach it, the pilot has to snake his hand between the quad- rant and the right yoke, which is not an easy task, especially while flying in turbulent air. The flap switch has three posi- tions-Up, Off and Down-and the switch must be pulled out of a detent before it can be repositioned. For in- stance, to select 15 degrees of flap, the switch must be pulled out of the detent at the Off position and moved to the Down detent. The process is reversed when the tiny pointer in the small dial mounted above the switch moves from 0 to 15. I found the electric flap system awkward and imprecise to operate. The manual flap system has a handle between the seats that easily can be pulled up to definite detents at 15, 25 and 35 degrees of travel, allowing the pilot to keep his eyes outside the aircraft or in an instrument scan. The Sundowner is a delight to fly. The ailerons are crisp, and very little rudder is needed to keep the ball cen- teredo The ailerons are a modified Friese design. The leading edge of the raised aileron protrudes slightly into the airstream at the bottom of the wing, counteracting the yaw created by drag from the lowered aileron. In steep turns, though, the nose drops quickly, and it takes a good tug on the yoke to maintain altitude. During cruise checks at various al- titudes on a warm day, N6697Y de- livered true airspeeds that were con- sistently about two knots faster than those listed in the performance table in the pilot's operating handbook. Lightly loaded and at a density al- titude of 7,500 feet, the airplane trued out at 120 knots at 75 percent power (2,650 rpm), 115 knots at 65 percent (2,500 rpm) and 96 knots at 57 per- cent (2,300 rpm). The handbook in- dicates that the airplane should burn 11 gph, 9 gph and 7.9 gph, respec- tively, at these power settings. Good pilot technique is required when landing a Sundowner, since its nose gear is longer and its flaps are not as effective as those on the Ar- cher, the Warrior and the Skyhawk. In a comparative analysis of acci- dent statistics for 33 single-engine models, the National Transportation Safety Board found the Sundowner to have the highest incidence of hard- landing accidents. NTSB said Sun- downers were involved in 66 hard- landing accidents between 1972 and 1976, resulting in a rate of 3.5 hard- landing accidents per 100,000. hours of operation. Piper's Cherokee series and Cessna's Sky hawk were twen- tieth and twenty-first on the list, with hard-landing accident rates of 0.81 and 0.71 respectively. An aviation insurance underwriter I spoke with found the following sce- nario in three hard-landing accidents in Sundowners: The pilot came in too fast on final and without a suffi- ciently nose-up attitude in the flare. As a consequence, the nose gear hit the runway first, causing the airplane to porpoise. The nosewheel then cocked to one side, and the airplane ground-looped, overstressing and damaging its landing gear. However, if a Sundowner is landed according to the numbers suggested by Beech-68 knots on final approach with full flaps, 80 knots with flaps retracted-t~e pilot should find no problem in returning to earth. The Sundowner's wide landing gear also is very forgiving of poor pilot tech- nique in a crosswind. The Sundowner is one of the de- scendants of the three Musketeers, which Beech launched in the early 1960s as a means of introducing pilots to its product line early in their fly- ing careers. The original Musketeer was designed by a special group of Beech engineers headed by John El- liott, who now is a project engineer for the company's 19-passenger com- muter airplane. To save weight, Elliott used 10 alu- minum honeycomb ribs forward of the main spars in each of the laminar- flow wings. The ribs are bonded to the spar and to a one-piece wrap- around skin, resulting in a nearly rivetless forward wing structure. The first prod uction Musketeers flew with 160-hp Lycoming 0-320 en- gines in 1963. For the next five years, Beech used an oddball 165-hp Con- tinental 10-346A engine in the Mus- keteer II and Custom III models. The company reported overheating prob- lems with the Continental and switched to a 180-hp Lycoming 0-360 in the Custom model in 1969. continued AOPA PilOT • 87 cm/filll/cd Sunclowner In the early 1970s, the Musketeer Custom was given a wider fuselage, a second door, larger windows and a streamlined cowl and was renamed the Sundowner. By then, the Muske- teer line also had spawned the 150- hp, two-place Sport and the 200-hp, retractable Sierra. The Sport was dropped when Beech introduced the T-tailed Skipper in 1979. Sundowner deliveries have out- paced those of the Sierra. Although the Sundowner also far outsold the Sport, there are indications that the new Skipper is becoming a more pop- ular vehicle for primary training in the Beech Aero Club network. The Sundowner has done such a good job in its role as a transition air- craft that it has been overlooked as a good airplane in its own right. The airplane offers a balance be- tween performance and quality of construction. Speed becomes less of a consideration when you sample the airplane's comfortable cabin and nim- ble handling qualities. The Sun- downer deserves a close look by any pilot in the market for a four-place, single-engine aircraft. 0 BEECHCRAFf C23 SUNDOWNER 180 Basic price $39,350 Price as tested $71,990 Specifications Propeller Wingspan Length Height Wing area Wing loading Power loading Passengers and crew Cabin length Cabin width Cabin height Empty weight (basic aircraft) Empty weight (as tested) Useful load (basic aircraft) Useful load (as tested) 1,130 ft 1,955 ft 792 fpm 123 kt Payload with full fuel (basic aircraft) 605 Ib Payload with full fuel (as tested) 457 Ib Gross weight 2,450 Ib Fuel capacity (standard) 59.8 gal (57.2 usable) Oil capacity 8 qt Baggage capacity 270 Ib (19.5 cu ft) 118 kt 96 kt 152 kt 136 kt 63 kt 52 kt 69 kt 75 kt 533 nm 582 nm 579 nm 12,600 ft 703 ft 1,484 ft Limiting and Recommended Airspeeds Indicated airspeed, 1I0t calibrated Va (Design maneuvl-ring spel-d) Vfl- (Max. flap-extended speed) Vne (Never-exceed speed) Vno (Max. structural cruise spel-d) Vs (Stall speed clean) Vso (Stall speed with full flaps) Vx (Best angle-of-climb speed) Vy (Best rate-of-climb spel'd) Range at 75(;;. cruise (with 45-min reserve) Range at 65(,lr, cruist, (with 45-min reserve) Range at 57(7,-, cruise (with 45-min reserve) Service ceiling Landing distance (ground roll) Landing over 50 ft 94 kt 108 kt 119 kt Performance Takeoff distance (ground roll) Takeoff over 50 ft Rate of climb (gross weight) Max. level speed (sea level) Cruise speed (750/, power, 8,500 ft) Cruise speed (650/,· power, 8,500 ft) Cruise speed (57'Jf power, 8,500 ft) Based on manllfactllrer's fix"res Lycoming 0-360-i\4K 180 hp @ 2,700 rpm Recommended TBO 2,000 hr Sensenich fixed pitch, 76 in 32 ft 9 in 25 ft 9 in 8 ft 3 in 146 sq ft 16.78 Ib/sq ft 13.61 Ib/hp 4 7 ft 11 in 3 ft 8 in 4 ft 1,502 Ib 1,6:>0 I b 48 Ib 800 Ib Engine 88 • OCTOBER 1980