It's fair to say that many, if not most, single-engine piston pilots consider flying a light twin-engine aircraft at some point. Many give up because of the extra cost, complexity, training requirements, or because the second engine doesn't provide much benefit for typical missions.
But in some cases, such as if a pilot regularly flies long distances over water, in mountainous areas or at night, a light twin-engine aircraft offers significant safety and flexibility. In short, twin-engine aircraft give pilots options.
The Beechcraft Travel Air occupies the sweet spot between more powerful twin-engine planes like the Cessna 310 and models like the Piper Apache, which are hard to keep flying with a single engine.
Burning slightly more fuel than a high-performance piston single-engine aircraft and offering the handling advantages of a single-engine aircraft over other twin-engine aircraft, the Travel Air is a good choice for people who use airplanes for serious travel. The Travel Air has enough speed and payload to get a family of four or five to their destination faster and safer than a single-engine aircraft.
This 1968 Travel Air has 4,099 hours on the airframe, 110 hours on each of its Lycoming IO-360 engines, with 101 hours on the right propeller and 7 hours on the left propeller since overhaul. The aircraft is equipped with a RayJay turbo normalizing system and hot propellers for de-icing. Fuel capacity is 104 gallons and useful payload is 1,178 pounds total. Other features include vortex generators and Brackett air filters.
The panel includes an Aspen Evolution EFD 1000 PFD, Garmin G5 HSI, Apollo SL 15 audio panel and SL 30 digital communications radio, Garmin GMX 200 MFD, Garmin GNS 430 WAAS GPS/Nav/Comm, Garmin Gi 208 glide slope/VOR/localizer indicator, King KR 87 ADF, Garmin GTX 330 transponder with traffic, Stormscope, angle of attack indicator, S-Tec 60-2 autopilot, EDM 700 engine monitor and Collins microline digital DME.
Pilots looking for a light twin-engine aircraft with the performance, economy and practicality that make it an ideal personal transport should consider the 1968 Beechcraft E95 Travel Air, available on AircraftForSale for $159,000.
If you're interested in financing, check out FLYING Finance. Use their aircraft loan calculator to estimate your monthly payments. Or, to speak to an aviation finance expert, visit flyingfinance.com.
