Photos by Clint Goff
The idea of being king for a day is entertaining in just about any facet of life. You know the concept, right? You say you want to be king for a day and then list the changes you’d make if you had complete control.
I live in Texas and we Texans love our freedom, so you’ll only hear us using this phrase when we are daydreaming. Let’s have a little fun by applying this to the King Air world: If I could be king for a day at Textron Aviation, what changes would I make to the current line of twin turboprops?
The King Air 360 manufactured today is a far better airplane compared to the King Air 90 that started it all back in the early 1960s. No doubt the research and development team at Beechcraft/Textron Aviation has evolved the King Air lineup through the decades with periods of changes, adaptations and improvements.
I suspect a new King Air of some sort will still be manufactured decades from now and it should be superior to one rolling off the production line today. I look forward to what they develop and would offer the following recommendations if I could be king for a day.
Bring back a better King Air 90
I love the King Air 90, and I believe it has a special place in the market. The Cirrus Vision Jet, TBM 9XX series and Piper M-Class airplanes are all selling well, so clearly there is demand for something smaller than the current production King Air 260. Most buyers in this space are owner-flown pilots and many would prefer a multi-engine airplane that is efficient, has good range and is affordable to operate.
The most recent King Air 90s that rolled off the production line in 2019 were basically the same as those you could buy a decade or two earlier. There were only minor updates and the market responded to the lackluster love from the manufacturer’s R&D department by buying efficient single-engine speedsters. The King Air 90 floundered and the company stopped production. If Textron Aviation were to speak to this situation, they’d probably say that the 90 competed with 2XX sales. But, I’d argue the 90 would have sold well in the past decade had it been upgraded.
If a King Air 90 had a larger psi max differential pressure, it’d sell like hotcakes. A present-day 90 can’t fly high without the cabin altitude being over 10,000 feet and that’s uncomfortable. But, if they made a King Air 90 with an 8+ psi cabin, installed the biggest small-block Blackhawk PT6 available and included a Garmin G1000 NXi panel, there’d be a line out the door of ready buyers.
Most owner-flown pilots want more than Cirrus, TBM and Piper can offer in their best models. The ”more” that King Air offers is an additional engine and a potty. The additional engine is a non-negotiable for some. Casey Aviation provides buyer-agent services to clients and we are dispassionate about which airplane we direct a client to. We listen to their mission, determine their budget and figure out the airplane that best fits their personality. Invariably, some clients say, “I want two engines.” For those, the competition for the King Air is a jet. But, for the efficiency-minded buyer, the King Air has severe competition from the single-engine speedsters. The gap in operational costs between a King Air 2XX and a Cirrus jet is huge; a King Air 90 that goes higher and faster would sell.
The potty should never be underestimated by the sales arm of Textron Aviation. It is the game-changer that is not available in any of the single-engine competitors. Cirrus sells well by marketing to spouses via the parachute, pure marketing genius. But King Air has a life-altering device that spouses fully understand and appreciate: a potty. Like a parachute or another engine, the potty is probably not going to be used much, but you know it’s there. Its mere existence gives comfort because when you need it, you need it.
Create a flat floor in the cargo area
I love the volume and load carry capability of the cargo space in the King Air. I’ve literally unloaded the entirety of a fully loaded Chevy Suburban into a King Air and had room to spare. It is fantastic. But the floor slants forward and it is hard to load high without toppling. Everything leans forward, and after the jostling that comes with a normal flight, the contents of the baggage area fall forward and strain against the cargo net. Both loading and unloading could be so much easier if the cargo had a flat floor.
We created a flat floor in our King Air by making a plywood platform. It is a one-off homemade job that meets the intricacies of our needs but is hardly marketable because most King Air baggage compartments have nuance differences affecting fit. I’d have preferred a flat floor from the factory.
Move to Garmin
There, I said it. I know I’m going to get some pushback from pilots who somehow love Pro Line avionics, but I’ll take the heat. The Pro Line lovers have probably never flown an advanced Garmin-outfitted airplane if they so ardently love Pro Line.
The proof is in the sales. A huge number of King Air aircraft have been upgraded to Garmin G1000 NXi. Owners are willing to pay more than half a million dollars for the Garmin panel and they are willing to throw the old Pro Line panel in the trash. Have you ever heard of an owner ripping out their Garmin panel to install Pro Line?
Every manufacturer of owner-flown, new-to-the-market airplanes has Garmin in the panel. Garmin has a near monopoly on advanced avionics in the aviation market, and it is an earned monopoly. Garmin is far easier to use, provides a lot of offerings that are truly safer and has incredible reliability.
Garmin avionics versus Collins flight decks.
I have no guesses as to why Textron Aviation has not moved to Garmin. If they would, I predict they’d enjoy a huge backorder of airplanes. Buyers want Garmin. Pilots want Garmin. I also think Pro Line lovers want Garmin, but they won’t admit it publicly.
Cabin noise canceling
We once had a King Air with cabin noise canceling, and it was incredible. I love noise canceling in my headset, and cabin noise canceling is even better.
When flying that King Air 300 with seven people on board, the pilot in the right seat turned off the cabin noise canceling while fidgeting with the plane’s buttons and knobs. Neither of us in the front really cared because we were wearing noise-canceling headsets. But the back seat passengers were startled enough by the sudden increase in noise that they came to the cockpit to ask if we were OK.
I think noise canceling is one of the greatest technological advancements in aviation. If I were calling the shots at the factory, every single King Air would have quality cabin noise canceling.
More comfortable front seats
I don’t like the front seats of a King Air. By and large, all King Air seat designs are far too upright especially for tall pilots who need seats that can recline.
I fly a lot of King Air aircraft on ferry flights and training flights. When I take a King Air trip, I’ve migrated to carrying a small pillow that I can place at the small of my back. That makes it slightly more comfortable, but the seat is still on the “that’ll barely do” side of the comfort spectrum.
And then there are the armrests. The older models have armrests that I usually find sagging to the point of being unusable while newer models have adjustable versions that break easily and mostly don’t work well. How many times have you crawled into the King Air cockpit only to get an unwanted wedgie from the floppy armrest? At first it is funny and then you’re irritated about the design. It’d be very easy for Textron Aviaton to reengineer the seats.
Pedals that move easier
I once flew a Diamond DA62 from the factory in Austria to the U.S. and that experience exposed me to a different way to set up a cockpit ergonomically. In a DA62, the pilot seat does not move, but the seat back reclines and the pedals move fore and aft. I’m 6 feet, 3 inches tall and my wife, Deanna, is 5 feet tall. Yet, as we switched seats on the legs across the North Atlantic, we had no trouble setting up the ergonomics for comfort. I’ve flown that route in a King Air more than 50 times and I will advise that the Diamond is more comfortable than the King Air ergonomically.
It is not only that the ergonomics are superior, but the pilot can better move the controls. In the Diamond, the pilot pushes an electric switch that moves the pedals electrically fore and aft. To move the King Air pedals, you need the flexibility of a Cirque du Soleil performer. First, you have to remove a shoe, then contort your big toe to the side and push the release, and then push or pull on the pedal with the other foot. It might be easy for a gymnast to accomplish, but if you’ve got men’s size 13 clodhoppers, it is no small feat to set the pedals in a King Air.
Better air conditioning
I fly all the King Air models, and the best model for cooling purposes is our King Air B100. Built in 1978, it is an embarrassment to Textron Aviation that Deanna and I play rock, paper, scissors over who gets to fly the B100 over the King Air 350 on a summer day when both airplanes are flying.
The B100 has the air conditioner compressor in the nose area powered by an electric motor, which means we can hook up the airplane to a ground power unit to cool the airplane prior to a flight. The 350 has the compressor on the right engine, so we always start with a hot cabin on summer days.
Aside from compressor location, it just seems that the 350 is hotter than the B100 on any given summer flight. The 350, regardless of which 350, cools down much more slowly than other models and that would also be addressed if I were in charge. I’d also explore why in the world the compressor reset for the King Air 3XX models is installed in the nose gear bay. I can’t tell you how many times that reset switch pops on the ground while taxiing out for departure, rendering the air conditioner completely inoperative for the entire flight.
King Air 3XX models from the nose gear bay.
The bottom line is air conditioning is so important in any vehicle that has no open windows. I know some buyers who have passed on the King Air simply because the word on the street is that the air conditioning is unreliable at worst and barely effective at best. The word on the street is right – there’s lots of room for improvement.
Let’s hear from you
That’s my list, now I’d like to hear about your ideas. If you could be king for a day, what changes would you implement to make a better King Air?
It’s a fun exercise, and your voice might be joined by others to create a chorus that Textron Aviation actually considers. Send your thoughts to joe@flycasey.com or to the King Air magazine editor, melinda@kingairmagazine.com. We look forward to hearing your thoughts!