8 August 2005
If you could fly 60kts faster, climb at three times normal speed and on less fuel than a Beechcraft 58 Baron, with an engine several times more reliable, why wouldn’t you? Washington based Rocket Engineering has the answer with its latest project for the Beechcraft B36TC, which includes retrofitting a Pratt & Whitney PT6A-21 engine. While the B-36TC is not a pressurized aircraft, Rocket claim it is the best non-pressurized platform for the PT6 turbine engine.
Since 1990, Rocket Engineering has STC’d and converted over 200 Mooney aircraft with 300+ hp Continental engines. In the last four years, they have converted an additional 100 Malibu/Mirage aircraft with Pratt & Whitney PT6A engines. The most frequently asked question concerning the conversion is ‘Why install a turbine engine in a non-pressurised aircraft?’ The answer is simple – the Pratt & Whitney PT6A-21 engine is several times more reliable and much more user friendly than a piston engine. It is a high altitude, high performance engine with no heating or shock cooling problems. The A36, A36TC, B36TC and Baron 58 all have the same interior fuselage and can all fly in the flight levels, yet none of them is pressurised.
