There aren’t many King Air B100 aircraft in the world. I think it is one of the better King Air models, but others love the mighty 3XX, 2XX and the various 90 models. The little known B100 was designed and built in the mid-1970s when Beechcraft anticipated a Pratt & Whitney employee strike could impact the production of the venerable PT6 engines. That looming strike produced the B100, which I believe is viewed as the stepchild of the King Air family.
The B100 has fuel-efficient Garrett (Honeywell) TPE331-10 engines bolted onto the shortest wing ever mated to the larger fuselage used for King Air 200 and 300 models. It is the same wing found on the E90, which tells you how small it is. But, the differences don’t end there. Beechcraft also used a horizontal stabilizer trimmed by moving the entire stabilizer. If that’s not weird enough, there’s no physical trim wheel available to the pilot, only electric trim.
The end result is a short wing, large fuselage, incredibly efficient, fairly fast and loud-as-hell-on-the-ground King Air that behaves in flight like none of the other King Air aircraft. The King Air fleet is so ubiquitous that any properly trained King Air pilot of any model could jump in any of the other various models and feel right at home within a few laps around the pattern … except for the B100.
Despite its differences, the B100 is one of my favorite airplanes to fly. Comparing it to the A100 that is identical to the B100 except that it has PT6 engines, the B100 betters the A100 by 20+ knots and uses less fuel. Many say it is like owning a 200 for half the price … and they might not be far off. Because of its efficient numbers, the B100 has a loyal following, but those supporters are few and far between compared to the rest of the King Air fleet. It is not an airplane that is widely loved, but it is absolutely loved by those who know it best.
My company, Casey Aviation, has operated a King Air B100 for the last decade, so I’ve become one of its loyal supporters. I also have international flight experience and an adventurous spirit, which is how I became involved when a South African owner purchased a -10 powered B100 from Florida and needed it flown across three continents.
The Journey Begins
In July 2023, I found myself in south Florida to pick up N136MB, a very nice B100 with low-time -10 engines. I met Byron Lutzke, the pilot for the new South African owner, at Fort Myers. Byron had never flown a B100 nor a multi-continent, international ferry flight, so I was PIC, but I quickly found Byron to be an excellent pilot, eager to gain flight experience in both the aircraft and the route. I sat in the left seat and Byron observed and ran the radios from the right.
We launched into an overcast sky and in short order had the nose pointed to Goose Bay, Canada (CYYR). We climbed at 150 KIAS while maintaining greater than 1,500 fpm during most of the climb. Cruise speeds averaged 264 KTAS, burning 280 pounds of fuel on each engine. Those are good numbers compared to other King Air models, in fact those are good numbers compared to just about any other airplane with a true 10-seat capacity. We had full fuel on every takeoff and were carrying a lot of additional gear on the trip. The B100 was not full of people, but we were heavy. The aircraft performed flawlessly with book numbers.
After stops in Virginia, Maine and Goose Bay, we flew on to Greenland. I expected my biggest challenge on the trip to be the stop in Nuuk, Greenland (BGGH). I normally use Sondestrom (BGSF) or Narsarsuaq (BGBW) on a North Atlantic trip, but Sondestrom is a bit out of the way to the north and Narsarsuaq has expensive fuel and frequently changing weather. Nuuk has cheaper fuel and more predicable weather though it also has a very short 3,000-foot runway. Normally short wings and a big fuselage is a bad combination for a short field, but the B100 also has direct-drive Garrett engines that allow for the props to go into reverse instantly after touchdown. On the three landings before Nuuk, I practiced my short-field landing and takeoff techniques, and Byron and I compiled accurate aircraft and weight specific calculations concerning our landing and takeoff lengths. I was consistently able to both land and depart in less than 2,000 feet, but practicing a short-field approach on a long runway is vastly different from actually landing on a short field.
There’s no “pucker factor” on a long field, but there was definitely one when actually approaching Nuuk’s 3,000-foot runway. I flew the approach precisely, landed on the numbers and applied full reverse. The B100 responded wonderfully. There’s a midfield taxiway that I could have easily turned off on, reminding me the B100 is such an impressive machine.
Loading up for the departure from Nuuk, my confidence was sky-high on the takeoff. The cooler temperatures at Nuuk (10˚C) meant performance would be optimal, and the B100 was off the runway in about 1,600 feet, close to midfield. We were soon climbing into clear skies, taking in some of the most breathtaking views on the planet. I’ve stepped foot on more than 80 countries and flown over five continents. I consider Greenland the most beautiful from both the ground and the air.
The flight from Nuuk to Keflavik, Iceland (BIKF), was routine. We had a nice view of the Greenland ice cap; you feel very small and very alone over the vast, uniform landscape. The North Atlantic was calm and peaceful, a stark difference from what one can expect in other times of the year. As we approached Iceland, though, the wind picked up and the whitecaps became more plentiful. Our landing at BIKF was easy as the 30-knot wind was directly down RWY 01. We parked, refueled and went to bed with the sun still high in the sky at 10 p.m.
Departing Luxembourg (ELLX) for Heraklion, Greece (LGIR, on the Island of Crete), was refreshing, not only because we were leaving the oppressive security of ELLX, but two beautiful parts of the world were below us: the Swiss Alps and the Aegean Sea.
Of course, with older aircraft not everything works perfectly all the time. On this B100, the left propeller was likely not perfectly balanced (annoying, but not dangerous), there was a green ALT light on the autopilot that would not illuminate (more annoying), and the fuel gauges were off at certain levels. It was the fuel gauges that concerned me on the way to Greece.
The right fuel gauge was grossly inaccurate when full, it bounced around at the mid-quantities, and we had no idea what it would read when the tanks were near empty. The left tank had read perfectly so far, but we had not flown the gauges to less than 700 pounds/side yet and had no idea how accurate it would read at the lower quantity range.
We had 1,250 nautical miles of flying between ELLX and LGIR, five and a half hours of flight time with forecast winds, and we expected to land with about 400 pounds of fuel on each side (allowing more than an hour margin). It is woefully uncomfortable to stare at a gauge that bounces around when you’ve been flying for five hours. So, we did what seasoned ferry pilots are really good at doing: calculate, monitor and hope. I bet I punched numbers in my calculator 30 times on that leg, coming up every time with the same predicted landing fuel, so we pressed on.
The landing at LGIR was uneventful and we were then able to accurately calculate the volume of the fuel tanks by monitoring the refueling. The right tank read perfectly accurate and the left tank was within 4 gallons of the right. For tank volumes of nearly 200 gallons each that are only 8 inches deep, that’s pretty accurate measuring. We then had an accurate data point at the lower fuel levels, giving us confidence for the longer legs that were upcoming over Africa. Within 45 minutes we were leaving Greece and flying to Hurghada, Egypt (HEGN).
We landed on the immensely long RWY 35R at HEGN and soon were dealing with another round of security. Thanks to our handlers and our pilot status, we were marched to the front of a line of about 200 people waiting to get through the long security line.
After leaving Egypt we had four more stops, with 4-5 hours of flying between each stop. We estimated 17 hours of flying to get from HEGN to South Africa in the King Air. There are a lot of places in Africa to avoid, and we picked our route down the east side because the west side of Africa is rife with corruption and the threat of extortion. We felt it safer to fly around war-torn Sudan than to fly through Mali, Nigeria or the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The flight route from Hurghada to Djibouti was southbound over the Red Sea, but in a zig-zagging course amongst international boundaries that made fuel calculations less accurate. We spoke with many different controllers, all with different ideas of the best routing through their airspace, and none of them cared what our fuel gauge read. So, again, out came the calculators and a hope for favorable winds every time we got a new clearance.
The next landing was not exactly a nail-biter but landing with only 243 pounds of fuel on each side, technically an hour reserve, was a seriously low volume if we had to divert to another airport. We were told to hold at a fix on the approach to Djibouti, but I declined that request citing “minimum fuel” status. I think that was a good call considering we were in a foreign nation with limited options. We found Nairobi, Kenya (HKJK), around 8 p.m., at the end of a long flight day and eagerly ate dinner and sought much needed rest.
One of my favorite aspects of a big trip like this one is seeing different cultures; our handler at Nairobi was a guy named Wycliffe, who was happy to chat about his country. I think Kenyans have a better and more varied climate (sitting at a higher elevation), and they seem to live a better life than many Africans.
It was cloudy in Kenya, but on the flight southbound we got an impressive view of Mount Kilimanjaro. The top of the clouds were at FL210, we flew at FL220, and Kilimanjaro stood majestically above FL230 with a trail of wind-swept clouds downwind of her.
I was cautious coming into our next stop, Lilongwe, Malawi (FWKI). During my last experience, I was forced to pay excessive fees. We had a completely different encounter on this trip because Byron – a local to the continent – called an associate to handle all of the fees for us. The $133 was a fraction of the thousands I’d been asked to pay the last time I stopped at FWKI. We never left the airplane, were refueled in less than 30 minutes and effectively conducted a quick turn.
The final leg seemed relaxing. As heavy clouds started to wane, the beautiful mountains of eastern South Africa began to reveal themselves in all their glory. South Africa is a beautiful country and easily one of the most productive economies on the continent. Signs of civilization grew more numerous and soon we were “diving and driving” on a super-steep right downwind to Lanseria, South Africa (FALA).
At FALA, there were more friends to see us through. The brokers who helped purchase the B100 were there and had everything ready for us. Both the airplane and crew made it through customs with no delays. This was important because I had an airline flight to catch. Within an hour of landing at FALA, I was at Tambo International Airport (FAOR) awaiting my flight back to the U.S.
Looking back
I’m still amazed every time I move an airplane around the world. A one-mile hunk of asphalt really is a gateway to the entire world. It is a marvel that we can jump in a King Air in Florida and end up in South Africa five days later, having stepped foot on 12 countries and three continents, all in seamless, zipper-like fluidity. The trip was about 50 hours of flight time. We averaged 15 knots on the tail, I suspect a flight from South Africa back to Florida would take an additional 5-10 hours of flight time.
A few observations:
Two ways to make your ground experience go smoothly: have a friend or contact in country and tip well. A $5 USD will get you out of many a jam. Tip more than that, they know you probably have more money onboard.
European airspace has 20 times the number of waypoints on a given route than what we experience in the U.S. Be prepared for ATC to change routes on you, we had it happen three times on one leg of this trip.
This flight couldn’t have been done without Shepherd Aero, the flight management company that provides trip support on every international flight I take. There’s a multitude of overflight permits, meal negotiations, customs events, hotel reservations, fuel uploads, ground transportation reservations and passport paperwork that can be overlooked by the untrained, with one small hiccup causing huge ripples downstream.
Airplanes are an amazing bridge to the rest of the world. I’m looking forward to the next trip and I hope this account will encourage you to let your airplane take you to places that are different and exciting, places that expand horizons and invigorate the soul.