The Beech 99 is an evolution of the successful Queen Air/King Air series, sharing the King Air's basic powerplant and layout, but otherwise is a new design, with a significantly lengthened cabin featuring greater seating capacity. The Beech 99 has a range of approximately 1020 nautical miles, and a cruising speed of 250 knots.

Design of the 99 began in the late 1960s, in part to find a replacement for the venerable Beech 18. In December 1965 a stretched fuselage Queen Air was flown for the first time, while the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 powered prototype model 99 made its first flight in July 1966. The first customer aircraft was delivered in May 1968, when the series became known as the Commuter 99. At the time the 99 was Beech's largest aircraft yet and Beech was optimistically forecasting a production rate of 100 per year.

Subsequent models were the A99, A99A and B99, with differing powerplants, submodels and weights. The B99 was available in two variants, the B99 Airliner and the B99 Executive, a corporate transport version with seating for between eight and 17 passengers.

Production of early models was halted in 1975, and it was not until 1979 that the improved C99 Commuter (plus the larger 1900, described separately) was announced as part of Beech's return to the commuter airliner market. A converted B99 fitted with P&WC PT6A34 engines served as the C99 prototype, and flew in this form for the first time on June 20 1980.

Production aircraft featured PT6A36 engines, and deliveries recommenced following certification, both in July 1981. Shortly afterwards it became known as the C99 Airliner.

Our Beech 99 flies all day, every day during the busy summer season. The aircraft is renowned for its impressive cargo abilities, which gives it almost nonstop business flying Alberta Forestry personnel and supplies during the summer firefighting season. The airplane's quick conversion from passenger to cargo service has proven a valuable asset time and time again; oftentimes, the 99 will fly a freight run in the early morning, have its seats put in for the early Fort Chipewyan sched, have the seats removed for a noon freight run, and then have the seats put back in for afternoon and evening Chipewyan scheds! The 99 is particularly adept at flying large special items, such as ATVs, that are popular recreational vehicles in rugged northern Alberta.

All general Beech 99 information on this page is courtesy of Airliners.net