Beechcraft King Air 260

History

Beechcraft/Textron announced the King Air 260 (along with the King Air 360) in 2020 as the direct successor to their popular "King Air 250" series. The twin-turboprop, utility performer is a variant of the famous Super King Air series, with nearly 4,000 produced since the service launched in 1972.

The range is versatile enough to meet the needs of the military and civilian domains, in the former, the United States Air Force and Army units join the Royal Australian Air Force, which is actively used today in various modified mission-specific forms.

The Super King Air series is an evolution of Beechcraft's earlier "King Air" series, which debuted in 1964 and will produce over 3,100 examples by 2021. With a twin-engine layout, the genre proved adaptable to a wide variety of roles, highlighted by the plethora of variants that eventually emerged.

As the Super King Air hit the market in the early 1970s, the new version replaced the old one in a Beechcraft marketing push - notable variants of its own include the C-12 "Huron" and the Model 1900.

The King Air 260 returns with a common mainframe and engine layout consistent with the Super King Air series. Smaller than its cousin, the King Air 360, the Model 260 seats nine passengers (including two pilots), has a payload of up to 3,760 pounds, and has a takeoff distance of 2,111 feet. It has a range of up to 1720 nautical miles and a maximum cruising speed of 310 knots.

The entry includes six new interior color schemes in a single-channel configuration. Winglets are mounted on the tip of the main aircraft, with pilots sitting side-by-side in the cockpit with a redundant control scheme and a common throttle quadrant in the center console.

The cockpit exudes state-of-the-art detail, dominated by three full-color touchscreen displays. Both seats in the dash are equipped with easy-to-reach switches and dials, and each crew member has a yoke-style control post. To reduce pilot workload, the aircraft will be equipped with an IS&S ThrustSense autothrottle system. The flight management system (FMS) manages the boost through a digital control scheme without any manual administration.

Standard Weather Radar offers multi-scan capability and can be combined with the SIRIUSXM Weather Plan to aid regional travel throughout North America. The avionics kit is the Collins Aerospace Pro Line Fusion kit.

Power is said to come from two Pratt & Whitney Canada (PWC) PT6A-52 series turboprop engines, each rated at 850 hp, driving a four-bladed Hartzell-built constant-speed composite propeller unit.

When finished, the Model 260 has an MTOW rating of 12,500 lbs and a curb weight of 8,830 lbs. Dimensions include a barrel length of 43.9 feet, a wingspan of 57.10 feet and a height of 14.9 feet.

Specification

Basics

Years of Service

2022

Origins

United States

Status

Under development

Program is running.

Crew

2

Production

2

Manufacturer

Beechcraft / Textron - USA

Carrier

US (probably)

Roles

Special Mission: MEDEVAC

Extraction of wounded combat or civilian elements using specialized shipboard equipment and available internal volume or external carrying capacity.

Transportation

General transport function for moving supplies/cargo or people (including casualties and VIPs) out of range.

Commercial Aviation

Used in roles serving the commercial aviation market, moving passengers and cargo over long distances.

VIP service

Used in the VIP (Very Important Person) passenger role, usually with above-average amenities and luxury as standard.

Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance (ISR), reconnaissance

Monitor ground targets/target areas to assess surrounding threat levels, enemy strength, or enemy movement.

Notable Features

Radar Capability

Houses may house (via specialized variants) radars for searching, tracking, and attacking enemy elements.

Multi-engine

Include two or more engines to improve survivability and/or performance.

Sturdy aircraft frame

The inherent ability of the airframe to take significant damage.

High performance

The ability to fly and operate at higher altitudes than the average aircraft of the day.

Extended range performance

Ability to travel long distances using on-board fuel supplies.

Operation Lakes

Able to operate over the ocean and survive certain harsh marine environments.

Depression in crew members

Support the pressurization required for crew survival at higher operating altitudes.

Crew management

In addition to the pilot, the aircraft also employs additional crew members who specialize in specific functions on the aircraft.

Closed crew room

There are partially or fully enclosed crew work areas.

Scalable

Has retractable/retractable landing gear to maintain aerodynamic efficiency.

Extended Access

The design includes features to facilitate loading/unloading of cargo/people from the aircraft.

Dimensions and Weight

Length

44. 0 feet

(13.40m)

Width/span

57. 9 feet

(17.65m)

Height

14.8 feet

(4.50m)

Cured weight

8,830 lbs

(4,005 kg)

MTOW

12,500 lbs

(5,670 kg)

Wgt Difference

+?3,671

(+1,665 kg)

MAINPLANE STRUCTURE

Single wing / low mount / straight

Monoplane

Designed to use a single main wing main aircraft; this is the most popular arrangement of main aircraft.

install low

The main aircraft is mounted low on the side of the fuselage.

Straight

Floor plans involve the use of simple, straight main plan elements.

(The structure descriptor refers to Beechcraft King Air 260 Basic Edition)

Performance

Installed:

2 x Pratt & Whitney Canada (PWC) PT6A-52 850 hp turboprops driving four-bladed propeller units.

Maximum speed

370 km/h

(595 km/h | 321 knots)

Cruising speed

357 km/h

(575 km/h | 310 knots)

Maximum speed difference

+12 km/h

(+20 km/h | 11 kn)

Maximum

35,007 feet

(10,670 m | 7 km)

Area

1,979 km

(3,185 km | 5,899 nautical miles)

rate of climb

2,435 ft/min

(742 m/min)

Range (MPH) Subsonic: <614mph | Transonic: 614-921 | Supersonic: 921-3836 | Hypersonic: 3836-7673 | Hypersonic: 7673-19180 | Reentry: > 19030

Armor

None.

VARIANTS

King Air 260 The name of the base range.