It’s been a decade and a half since our own Dean Benedict wrote an excellent “Windshields 101” column on King Air windshields. With the current inability to obtain a replacement in anything near a timely fashion, I think it’s time to revisit what we know and what we don’t. Since the waiting list for replacement…
What is arguably the most abused, mismanaged, forgotten, diminished yet important part of your King Air? It’s not the potty knife, not the copilot control yoke and not the baggage compartment floor. All of those are important – and almost certainly shoved aside in importance – but they do not win such inglorious distinction as…
PWI Expands King Air 90 LED Cabin Lighting to All Aircraft Serial Numbers PWI Inc. has expanded its King Air 90 LED cabin lighting system supplemental type certificate approval to include later serial number King Air 90 aircraft – LJ-1299 and after – so it now encompasses all King Air models and serial numbers under…
Louisiana Governor Signs ADS-B Billing Ban; AOPA Continues Effort Toward National Ban In late June, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed HB 730 into law, joining the growing number of states moving to stop the use of ADS-B, a safety technology, to collect fees from pilots. In a news release, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association…
Photos courtesy Textron Aviation Five Beechcraft King Air turboprops participated in the ninth Special Olympics Airlift to support the Special Olympics USA Games in Minnesota, where children and adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities compete in Olympic-type sports on a national level. Led by Cessna and Beechcraft and organized by Textron Aviation, approximately 130 Beechcraft,…
FAA Airworthiness Directive 2026-15-05: Wing Structure Effective date: Aug. 10, 2026 Applicability: This AD applies to Textron Aviation Inc. Model B300 and B300C airplanes, certificated in any category, identified in Textron Mandatory Service Letter MTL-57-04, Revision 1, dated March 27, 2025, including airplanes identified below, except for any airplane that has had a wing evaluation…
One evening at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, I was walking behind a gray-haired pilot and his wife. It had been a hot, lengthy day of airshows and he was holding on to his wife for a little extra support as he made the long walk from the flight line to the far reaches of the parking…
For many pilots, it would be a difficult decision to move on from a mint condition Cessna Grand Caravan EX. This was a problem that Tim Russell of St. Petersburg, Florida, had in 2025, when faced with the prospect that the single-engine turboprop may no longer be the best aircraft for his mission. “We had…
Automatic crossfeed is a popular topic of discussion at King Air Academy for several reasons. The first reason has to do with why we go to recurrent training in the first place – to review procedures like crossfeeding, which we rarely perform on normal flights. The second reason is to discuss the potential pitfalls when…
I once flew with a CFI who pointed to a switch in the cockpit and said, “That’s a ‘dusty switch.’” I pondered that comment and then had to ask, “What’s a dusty switch?” He told me that a dusty switch is “a switch that is hardly ever touched, or a switch that you should not…