Beechcraft 1900 1900D

The 1900 and the 1900C shared the drawback of almost every nineteen-seat airliner: a cabin ceiling so low that an average passenger could not walk the aisle without stooping. Beechcraft undertook a thorough redesign in 1991 to fix it and introduced the 1900D with a stand-up cabin, a feature it shared in its class only with British Aerospace's Jetstream 31/32.

A taller cabin adds weight and drag, so the rest of the aircraft had to follow: more powerful PT6A-67D engines, modified propellers, winglets to improve wing efficiency, a larger tail to match the extra power and a flight deck updated with an Electronic Flight Instrument System. The certification basis changed too: the 1900D was certificated in the FAR Part 23 commuter category that had replaced the old SFAR 41C.

With four hundred and thirty-nine built — UE serial number prefixes — the 1900D is the best-selling variant of the type and almost always the one in the picture when someone photographs a 1900. In 1991 an airline 1900D cost 3.95 million dollars. Production of the whole family ended in October 2002, once the market had turned to fifty- to ninety-seat regional jets and Raytheon closed the line with 695 aircraft built.

Its career did not end with the factory: in July 2018 one hundred and ninety-two were still in airline service, and its internal volume has made it a prized freighter. It also carries a long accident record, from Air Midwest Flight 5481 in 2003 to Satena Flight 8849 in January 2026.