Modified King Air claims speed records
Tamarack Aerospace submitted two city-pair record claims to the National Aeronautic Association (NAA) and the European Fédération Aéronautique Internationale for flights involving a Smartwing winglet-equipped Beechcraft King Air 350 to and from the National Business Aviation Association Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition 2022 in Orlando, Florida.
The first city-pair flight was for a nonstop 2,032.8-nautical-mile-flight from Spokane, Washington, to Orlando on October 16. The flight was completed in seven hours and 46 minutes with an average airspeed of 240 knots. At the close of the convention, the modified King Air flew a one-stop flight from Orlando to Albuquerque, New Mexico, then on to Henderson, Nevada, located about 15 miles from Las Vegas, where NBAA’s 2023 convention will be held. That 1,770.7-nm flight took eight hours and eight minutes, battling a 64-knot headwind and icing conditions along the way.
“The military is especially interested in our increased range and loiter time for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions for smaller turbo props and large transport and our upgraded King Air’s boast features that additionally allow takeoffs and landings in high/hot conditions,” Guida continued.
Earlier this year, Tamarack also received the NAA’s Most Memorable Aviation Records Award for its record-breaking nonstop flight in a Cessna CitationJet from Portland, Maine, to West Palm Beach, Florida, on January 26, 2021, beating another CitationJet competing in that fly-off that was not equipped with Tamarack’s upgrade. The modified CitationJet completed the 1,386-nautical-mile course in just four hours and 35 minutes and used a total of 2,610 pounds of fuel while the unmodified jet burned 3,650 pounds of fuel and spent five hours and 37 minutes in flight.
