Darn it, the heater is out! Now that we have been in winter’s icy grip (well, here in Phoenix, it’s more like a warming caress!), your King Air’s heater is probably getting some use. This discussion applies to the electric heater in C90s (and all the C90 variants), E90s, F90s, 100s, A100s, and B100s. In…
If your particular autopilot/flight director system does not have the IAS mode – the mode that adjusts pitch attitude to hold a particular Indicated Airspeed – then this article is not for you. Turn the page; I’ll see you next month. But for those who have this mode, let’s talk a bit about its usefulness.…
When readers send a question to me or Kim Blonigen, our editor, I try to respond directly without delay. Some questions concern a specific item that affects so few operators that publishing the reply here in my monthly column would merely be wasting ink. However, some questions lend themselves to a wider audience. This month…
Do you use your King Air’s parking brake regularly? I surely do, but I have observed that quite a few King Air pilots do not. Why? I believe that the reluctance to use the parking brake comes from our first training flights, such as in a Cessna 172. “Don’t use that. It’s unreliable and doesn’t…
KAG II – the second King Air Gathering that was held at the Stevens Aviation facility in Dayton, Ohio (KDAY) on September 29-30, 2017 – was a great success with a full complement of King Air pilot attendees, sponsors, and presenters. (Editor’s Note: More details of KAG II on page 11.) I was honored to…
As you have experienced, the propeller on the PT6A engine series turns very freely. Even a child using a little finger can spin it quite easily in the hangar or on the ramp due to the fact the PT6 is a “free turbine” engine in which the propeller shaft is not physically connected to the…
No, I am not talking about your morose attitude. (Although converting that downer into an upper will probably make you a much more pleasant cockpit occupant.) Instead, I am talking about lightening up the weight on the nose tire during the takeoff roll. Some airplanes exhibit a strong tendency to create nose-down force during the…
“Out of sight, out of mind.” That can be one description of the topic for this month’s article: The crossover duct. Take a look at the image below, showing the forward portion of a model 90’s environmental system. Do you see that dark blue and light blue tube that crosses from left to right, on…
As I was trying to come up with a topic for this month’s article, I happened to read the “Waypoints” column in the June 2017 issue of AOPA Pilot magazine, written by Thomas B. Haines, the editor-in-chief. It tells of an incident in his 1972 Bonanza A36 in which he aborted a flight and taxied…
Walk down a ramp where numerous King Airs are parked and look closely at their propeller blades. I wager that you will see quite a variety of conditions. Some will look almost new, whereas others will be badly sandblasted. It may be that the reason for the difference is reasonable and unavoidable. Namely, one airplane…