I just sold my 421-c and am now in a B55. I forgot how much I love the Beech product I owned a 1984 B58 and have about 400 hours in it. I owned the 421 for 11 years and it was a great value but boy teh Baron flies nicely. Anyway, I'm planning on going in and out of a 2,600' runway in Minnesota with obstructions about 300 ' off the ends. The airport is Breezy Point and I'm one of the owners of the private strip. Does anyone have any advice on short field techniques in this plane? I have the 260hp engines.

Jeff,

Congrats on your step up to the B55....

Breezy Point would be fairly easy, but one must be on the numbers. If you have the VGs it makes it a lot easier, but doable without.

You may not want to operate at gross, hot day, gusty crosswind and a wet runway...... but reasonable conditions should work fine.

I've been in there... years ago, but can't remember if I had a Baron or Bo then.....

I use to operate my B55 off a 2500 grass strip with 80 ft trees at one end, and as long as I did reasonable planning, it worked well.

My thoughts too. I never had the guts to go in there with the 421, although there was a guy that did. I normally have four of us and everything my two daughters own along with us in the 421. I have to be a bit more judicious with the packing now. Especially since we now have the "boyfriend" along on the way up to the lake!

I bought into the airport last summer, couldn't keep my mouth shut at teh first meeting adn now am chairman of the improvement committee. We got some of the trees cut down and am now working on the powerlines and a 600' extension to the paving. first time landing there will be Wednesday.

Jeff,

Tell me about the airport. What's the area like now, assume you have access to the lake?

Is it public access? Do you use it for a getaway?

Been years since I've been there....

Great area. We have a log home built in 1924 on the north end of the lake and would fly into BRD and drive past this strip. I asked around and ended up buying one of 25 shares. Now I'm able to land at the shorter runway and almost walk to my cabin. Breezy point has a long history with a resort by the same name going back to the turn of the century when prohibition forced the rich and famous to escape to the northwoods for some "fun". Beautiful area with hundreds of lakes. You can Google map pelican lake at breezy point.

Jeff, where are you based (I'm at KFCM)? I've flown my B55 in and out of strips as short as 1800 ft and 2600 is pretty easy as long as you're careful with the weight, surface condition, and DA. I suggest you try a few takeoffs and landings at a longer grass runway and/or one without obstructions first if you can, but if you can stay a few hundred pounds below MGW, operate at or below 80°F, and avoid ground soft enough to require more than 1500 RPM to taxi you won't have any problems (unless an engine quits). Also be sure to avoid wet grass as the braking action would be practically nil. It's good to know how much distance you'd need to stop on the grass from the low liftoff speed. IME if the ground is the least bit soft and the grass is dry it only takes 600-750 ft but on wet grass and hard ground that number could tripple.

Even when "lightly loaded" a Baron will experience significant extra drag on most grass runways so taking off with partial flaps almost always helps. The original POH included a takeoff procedure using 20 degrees of flap and a liftoff speed well below the published Vmc and it works well but you have to be committed to pushing the nose over and reducing power if one quits before you're well above the obstacles. BTW if you do use flaps on takeoff you have to use the lower speeds in the old POH, otherwise you'd be better off without the flaps. After liftoff and clear of the trees, you can run the flaps up while letting the airspeed build and then raise the gear.

Lance: I'm based out of ARR southwest of Chicago. The 8MN3 (Breezy Point) airport is paved. We have 2,650' of paving and 500' of over run that I hope to pave this fall. I appreciate your insights and don't think I'll have any problems. I've been in and out of FCm many times as our headquarters is in Mpls. Ryan Companies. Thanks for the advice.

JAS

I'd forgotten that 8MN3 was paved. With the extended 2600 ft you won't have any trouble, although I'd keep it a few hundred pounds below MGW the first couple times. Definitely no flaps needed for that one but you do need to mentally prepare yourself for the possibility that you will have to sacrifice the airplane if you lose an engine on takeoff if you are anywhere near MGW.

Lance: I agree. thanks again.