Last summer I supervised a gear overhaul (inspection) on a King Air F90 belonging to a client. We were coming down the home stretch. The motor, gear box and torque tubes were ready for reinstallation. The cabin had been gutted for ease of access and we were about to reinstall all the floorboards that had…
Robert Johnson saw a Facebook post in August 2017 from friend Doug Jackson asking fellow general aviation pilots in the Dallas area to help in an effort he was leading to fly critically-needed relief supplies to small airports in coastal Texas. While ground transportation was unsafe due to catastrophic flooding, aircraft could land with basic…
John Glidewell likes to imagine having been a fly on the wall in the early 1960s at Beech Aircraft Corporation during conversations between company president Olive Ann Beech, her engineering executives and engine supplier Pratt & Whitney as they were considering combining the proven airframe of the Model 80 series Queen Air with the gas…
As Florida grapples with the devastation of Hurricane Ian, its impact on the insurance industry is already making the headlines. Estimates of “insurable losses” are between $25-$40 billion. While this is a big range, even the lowest of estimates is a meaningful, industry changing number. You will hear of possible litigation between the insurance companies…
Mark your calendars now for King Air Gathering 2023 being held at the World Golf Village in St. Augustine, Florida. The upcoming Gathering will be a bit different from others in the past, as all seminars and exhibits will be held at the World Golf Village. The resort not only features two championship golf courses…
I recently had a conversation with a representative of one of the propeller manufacturers and it became apparent that he had a couple of misconceptions about the behavior of the King Air propeller both during in-flight shutdowns and airstarts. That prompted me to write this article in an attempt to provide clarification. As we have…
Recently at the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) convention PWI announced new King Air lighting options: The soon-to-be PMA-approved LED Logo Light which illuminates the pilot side of the vertical surface of the tail, often bearing the company logo of business, charter, special missions, AirMed and cargo operators. The Door Entry LED for King Airs…
Bluetail, the leading modern aircraft records platform for business aviation, recently announced that it has completed developing MACH Conformity, the newest module within the Bluetail software portfolio, which will help reduce the time it takes to perform conformity inspections by up to 50%. Bluetail says the company is building an impressive customer list of charter…
As Air France’s Airbus A330-200 engines whined to a stop, sand patterns twirled on the aircraft’s windows and moments later, an all-encompassing “brown out” rampaged into N’Djamena, Chad, and closed the central African airport (FTTJ). Somewhere near the wind-blasted terminal, Beechcraft King Air 200 (N22071) waited patiently. Based in the country’s capital city, the airplane…
Yesterday I got a call from a mechanic working on a pressurization problem with a King Air C90. The pilot’s squawk was that the altitude warning light came on while at cruise; the pilot descended. The mechanic did not know if the cabin dumped all at once, but the way he told it, it didn’t…