King Air Gotchas

The one thing that I keep trying to wrap my head around is the rudder trim deal. I’ve never thought about it when I had the opportunity, but in the sim — 200 and 350 — the instructors have told me to take out the rudder trim before landing OEI because it’s a bear on the ground. I’ve got to try this in the plane because there’s a disconnect somewhere. If it’s an issue, how can the pilots not know?

You take out the trim at about the time you go to power idle when doing OEI landings. Since the bad engine is feathered, going to a flat pitch on the good engine makes it yaw the other way at the same time you have to add landing flaps. It’s a fun ride when you pop out out at minimums.
 
You take out the trim at about the time you go to power idle when doing OEI landings. Since the bad engine is feathered, going to a flat pitch on the good engine makes it yaw the other way at the same time you have to add landing flaps. It’s a fun ride when you pop out out at minimums.

You go power idle OEI when the mains are on the ground unless you want to red screen of death, but it’ll work if you’re off profile and screaming in. That’s also the 1800RVR landing. I was told it had to do with ground handling at the higher speeds and that’s what I was trying to figure out. How could they NOT know they had full rudder trim in on the takeoff roll?
 
No airplane is always a "go" airplane even after V1. It's just more likely that "go" is better than "stop" as the airplane gets more sophisticated and the certification standard increases. In "big" airplanes the probability that the "right call is go" approaches unity.

The King Air series machines are great airplanes, particularly single pilot, but if you are not absolutely prepared to lose an engine at V1 they are a bear if you actually do. They perform relatively poorly if autofeather doesn't occur and the pilot does nothing. That said, the Navajo was down right alarming on one engine, not "bad" but with the BLR kit the gross weight went up 368lbs for no appreciable reason and you had an extremely short amount of time to go "gear up, flaps up, identify, verify, feather, secure, close the cowl" if you wanted to live. I went from the 1900 into the Navajo (I needed a raise with a baby on the way so I came back to Alaska) and found the airplane to be extraordinarily busy in comparison.

The Navajo legs were generally shorter in duration, you had to be several minutes in front of the airplane in a way that wasn't really required in turboprop land, and you were ALWAYS doing something. Adjusting the throttles, watching nacelle fuel, etc. While the airplane was "simpler" the actual act of flying it was substantially more demanding. This is kind of the same issue the jet jocks will have going into Tprop land if they're not careful.

A guy I met lost an engine in a chieftain out of Fairbanks on a warm summer day at 7368 and wasn't able to stop descending until he closed the cowl flap on the dead engine... That is significantly less performance than a King Air. Even in a commuter category airplane there's basically nothing you have to do if you lose an engine at V1 until you get high enough to need to do the memory items.

In truth, it doesn't matter what you fly, you have to be aware of the limitations of the machine, and understand the performance. My honest to God take on all of this is that the last airplane you flew is basically irrelevant. What are you flying right now, and how was your flight, especially your last approach and landing? If you cannot find a way you could improve your last flight, stop flying.
Who you calling a Ho?!? Just 'cause an airplane sells spots in saddles and can't maintain altitude on one engine doesn't necessarily make it a Ho.
 
I just got the job offer for a 350 G1000 gig. I'm a fighter guy with 180 hours of (mostly instructing) light twin time. This thread is very timely. Thank you.

Here's a few tips:

  • There's no torque limiter or FADEC, so as people have stated before, firewall power and max power are 2 different things. Try to get a feel for where max power is on your airplane, that way when the • hits the fan, you won't overtorque it and cause more issues.
  • When coming out of the blocks, use the condition levers in high idle to get going and then bring them back to low. If you use the power levers, the ground idle solenoid will click on and off, causing some discomfort for the pax as the props change pitch.
  • When doing the feather check, let them go all the way to feather. Don't just look for a reduction in RPM and then push them back up.
  • If you can understand the 3 main engine/prop checks, you will understand the system well. Rudderboost/overspeed gov test, autofeather test, and primary governor/ground idle solenoid check.
 
Here's a few tips:

  • There's no torque limiter or FADEC, so as people have stated before, firewall power and max power are 2 different things. Try to get a feel for where max power is on your airplane, that way when the • hits the fan, you won't overtorque it and cause more issues.
  • When coming out of the blocks, use the condition levers in high idle to get going and then bring them back to low. If you use the power levers, the ground idle solenoid will click on and off, causing some discomfort for the pax as the props change pitch.
  • When doing the feather check, let them go all the way to feather. Don't just look for a reduction in RPM and then push them back up.
  • If you can understand the 3 main engine/prop checks, you will understand the system well. Rudderboost/overspeed gov test, autofeather test, and primary governor/ground idle solenoid check.

#1 is a recurring issue with jet pilots. You don’t have to grab the power levers and shove them through the MFD.

#2 sell the owner on the new 5-bl MT props. They’re quieter ;) and I hear they get rid of the Ground LPS. I really hate those things.

#3 You’re looking for rpm’s to stabilize below 400. Fwiw, since winter is coming, a technique for starting on a contaminated ramp, when there’s a bunch of snow or when your traction is in question, is to start the engines with the props in feather.

Similarly, if you’re parking on a slick ramp, after you take the condition levers to fuel cutoff, let the props spool down before going to feather. Otherwise, when they are in transit to feather pitch, they’ll take a bigger bite out of the air (still with ~60% N1 if you do it immediately) and you can lurch forward. That makes line crews nervous. You have to wait until <15% N1 to gangbar the Master, and I’ve seen some wait until then.

#4 That’s half of of the before taxi time on the type ride. Get those down pat and you’re golden.
 
Read the book by Tom Collins.

  • 1 ½ cups ice
  • 2 fluid ounces gin
  • ¾ fluid ounce lemon juice
  • ½ fluid ounce simple syrup
  • 1 cup ice
  • 2 fluid ounces club soda
  • 1 lemon wedge

Directions

  • Step 1
    Fill a Collins glass with 1 1/2 cups ice, set aside in the freezer. Combine gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup in a cocktail shaker. Add 1 cup ice, cover and shake until chilled. Strain into the chilled Collins glass.
  • Step 2
    Top with club soda and garnish with a lemon wedge




    I don’t know if I’d call that a book, but if you want to learn some stuff about King Airs, Tom Clements has a couple of books on the subject.








 
I saw this article and wanted to pass it along. It got me thinking about the blind drills and other things the big box 142 centers don’t cover.


If you’re doing single-pilot training, dubbed “the hardest type in the building” at FSI Wichita, here are a couple of things to keep in mind:

I believe most G1000 350s are older models and don’t have the Keith AC. This is what the Right Pilot Subpanel should look like and where the bleed air valve switches are. They’re pull-to-move, locking position switches, but so is the ENVR BLEED AIR switch to the left.

DAFA038D-F4EB-4D85-8B2A-1F20B7D5BED0.jpeg


Air Start CLs aren’t memory items, but you should be familiar with the sequence.
AP malfunction/pitch trim runaway: if you’re fighting to control the airplane, you can’t very well pull out a checklist to find Step 4 after you’ve done the memory items. Step 5 is important and challenging for the single pilot. Again, I wish I could post the pic, but remeber the AFCS SEVROS CB is on the right (copilot side) CB panel, 4th row down, all the way to the right.

A2EB6613-3077-4D08-992A-63F9F0145E5D.jpeg


Also, it’s a PITA to get to the Alt Static from the left seat.

When you’re going through the pre-study material, just think about the EPs in that manner, “What am I doing at this point, and what do I have to do next?” TAWS, GPWS, Windshear events all have a CL with non-bold steps.

Finally, don’t rush anything and don’t let the instructor or DPE rush you.
 
Been decades since crew flight for me, but back in the 80’s, 90’s, after lift off, the PNF would put their hand aft of the power levers to prevent migration. That’s not a thing now?
 
Been decades since crew flight for me, but back in the 80’s, 90’s, after lift off, the PNF would put their hand aft of the power levers to prevent migration. That’s not a thing now?
Lol. It went away, but who knows, someone will bring it back because they get the login for the books.
 
Been decades since crew flight for me, but back in the 80’s, 90’s, after lift off, the PNF would put their hand aft of the power levers to prevent migration. That’s not a thing now?

It's a single pilot airplane. Some people go right hand on the yoke at V1/VR to ensure they don't panic and do a high speed abort. Either way, you're generally reaching for the props around 400 AGL to bring them to climb RPM, so you have plenty of time to fix the problem. It really isn't a big deal, unless you overgross the airplane and rotate early on a hot day (oops).
 
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