Aircraft model
BEECH 65-A90-1
Everything here is true of every aircraft of the type, not of any one aircraft.
The 65-A90-1 is the US Army U-21A Ute: an unpressurised King Air 90 airframe with PT6A-20 turboprops and a large cargo door, built for battlefield utility transport in Vietnam. Several hundred were made and surplus examples came onto the civil register.
What makes it interesting to a civil buyer is a turbine twin with King Air reliability at a fraction of a pressurised King Air's price. What makes it a specialised purchase is the absence of pressurisation, which caps practical cruising altitude at oxygen-free levels and removes the main reason people buy King Airs, plus the need to check what airworthiness certificate the individual airframe actually holds, because surplus aircraft did not all reach the register the same way. Military service means a hard life to investigate. The PT6 is the same engine the whole world maintains, which is the strongest argument in its favour; the airframe support is thinner than for a civil 90.
Compare with…
Put BEECH 65-A90-1 side by side with up to two other models.
- BEECH 65-A90-1
What it is
| Seats | 10 |
|---|---|
| Landing gear | tricycle |
| Engines | 2 |
| Engine | Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-20 |
| Horsepower | 550 hp |
| Fuel | JetA |
| Certification basis | CAR3 |
| Production start | 1967 |
| Production end | 1971 |
| Endorsements required | complex;high-performance;multi-engine |
Performance
| Cruise speed | 220 KTAS |
|---|---|
| Range | 1,000 nm |
| Service ceiling | 26,000 ft |
| Climb rate | 2,000 ft/min |
| Stall speed (Vso) | 78 KCAS |
| Takeoff over 50 ft | — |
| Landing over 50 ft | — |
Load and fuel
| Seats | 10 |
|---|---|
| Useful load | 3,750 lb |
| Full-fuel payload | 1,177 lb |
| Max takeoff weight | 9,650 lb |
| Empty weight | 5,900 lb |
| Usable fuel | 384 gal |
| Fuel burn at cruise | 80 gal/h |
Cost of ownership
| Price, low | $350,000 |
|---|---|
| Price, high | $900,000 |
| Prices as of | 2026 |
| Engine TBO | 3,600 h |
| Overhaul cost, low | $300,000 |
| Overhaul cost, high | $450,000 |
The fleet and its record
| Registered, all time | 109 |
|---|---|
| Active fleet | 90 |
| Median year built | 1967.0 |
| NTSB events, last 10 years | 3 |
| Fatal events, last 10 years | 1 |
| Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years | 33.33 · thin base (low)1 |
| Personal-flying events per 1,000 active | 0 · thin base (low)2 |
| Ownership transfers, last 24 months | 1 |
| Transfers per 100 active | 1.11 · thin base (low)3 |
| Airworthiness directives | 4 |
| Directives, last 5 years | 0 |
| Rate confidence | low |
- Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 90 active.
- Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 90 active.
- Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 90 active.
Peer scores6
| Peer class | Fixed wing multi-engine, turbo-prop, 2 engines, 7+ seats |
|---|---|
| Accident record | —1 |
| Severity | —2 |
| Access | 4.1 of 103 |
| Support | 6.5 of 104 |
| Liquidity | 0.4 of 105 |
These record scores treat BEECH 65-A90-1 as one design with the same aircraft registered under other names: it includes 1 aircraft registered as BEECH 65-A90-1 (U-21A). Prices are not combined.
- Accident record: class median 13.13 · 24 models in class.
- Severity: class median 31.67.
- Access: class median 5,500.
- Support: class median 59.
- Liquidity: class median 22.37.
- Each of the five categories places the model within its peer class, from 0 (the worst of the class) to 10 (the best): a position among comparable models, not a grade. The overall score is the sum of the categories shown that are scored, out of 10 for each (50 when all five are); it is given only when at least 4 of the five are scored, and it can be set against another model's only when both are in the same peer class and scored on the same categories.