Hawker Beechcraft to launch Premier II at EBACE
Click Here for FlightGlobal news on Beechcraft’s launch of the improved Premier II at (EBACE) European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition in Geneva May 20 - 22 2008.
This is very arrousing… I have been waiting for this. With such a limit in range you knew that had to be coming out with something… next e-mail is Beechcraft rep.
Yeeahhhh. But it’s FUGLY!!! I’d have to sneak up to that thing in the middle of the night with a bag over my head if I owned it!
Come on now, that thing is sexy… A mid-cabin plane, with a light-jet cost to purchase and a light-jet cost to fly… It doesn’t get any better than that. Plus that sexy cockpit.
I vote for UGLY. 
Did you eat lead paint as a kid? Sexy?!? A Falcon is sexy. A Lear 45 is sexy. A Citation X, Global, G550…is sexy. A Premier looks like a pregnant pot-bellied pig. UGLY! Hell, it makes the Beechjet look like a supermodel. Mid-size cabin? Every been in a mid-size airplane? The Premier is taller and wider that other light jets, but it’s about 7 feet short of being mid-size.
I guess planes are in the eye of the beholder. We each have our own taste…
As for being in a mid-size plane, well I own 2 jets - a Citation III which is mid-cabin and a Citation Mustang. I have also probably flown on every business jet made, including the Premier, and the Premier is about as close to a mid-cabin as you can get.
The Citation III has a 5 foot 7 cabin height. = Mid-Cabin Jet
The Hawker 800 has a 5 foot 7.5 cabin heigh = Mid-Cabin Jet
The Beech Premier has a 5 foot 4 in cabin height.
Compare that to Light Jets.
Lear 35 has a 4 foot 3 in. cabin height. = Light Jet
The CJ1 has a 4 foot 7.5in. cabin height = Light Jet.
Beech400A has a 4 foot 8in. cabin height. = Light Jet.
So having flown in just about every type of private plane that exists - I would say the Beech Premier is about as close to a mid-cabin as it gets.
Anyway - you can look at the numbers however you like. To me I think the Premier has a lot of the qualities I look for in a jet. It has a low operating cost, nice cockpit, 6 seats + lav, nice cabin height and now with the Premier II it will have decent range and payload.
But you don’t care how ugly it is when you’re sitting in the cabin:-)
I agree that it has a nice cabin and good cockpit. But it’s UGLY!
You put any more than four in back and it’s very very tight on leg room. The only way one can sit comfortably in the rear-most forward facing seats is if the seats in front of them (the forward facing club seats) are articulated all of the way forward…and then those clubs seats lose their leg room. 
The Premier cabin desperately needs a stretch.
For what its worth - I would take 6 in a Premier I vs. 6 in a CJ2. Just not going to fly as far… until that Premier II comes out…
Having flown both…passengers prefer the greater leg room of the CJ2 over the difference in cabin height of the Premier…
I guess I don’t think about passenger comfort as much as I used to do. Now I sweat a nice cockpit.
Agreed… But the Proline 21 in the CJ’s is no slouch…and the CJ is more pilot friendly with fewer checklist items.
Does anyone know if the Williams FJ44-3AP engines have thrust reversers? My understanding is the smaller engines (on the Premier I and IA) does not have TRs.
That is correct flybymike. There is no application of Williams International commercial engines equipped with Thrust Reversers. Cessna did install Thrust Attenuators on CJ series airplanes prior to the introduction of the CJ “+” series airplanes which have FADEC equipped Williams engines.
ainonline update on Premier II.
AvWeb update and videos official unveiling of Premier II mockup at EBACE.
At EBACE Beechcraft announced to date, they have 40 confirmed
orders, and 30 options for their Premier II. First flight is scheduled
for April 2009, and certification Q2 2010.
damn thats hot
IMHO!
Like women we all have different taste… but UGLY is always UGLY Winglets, new avionics, etc… are like plastic surgery on a women with poor bone stcucture and a bad luck draw at the genes. 
The Premier started out with bad genes and the best surgeons can’t fix that. 