Page 20 - April 2015 Volume 9, Number 4

Ask the Expert
Don’t Lift the Power
Levers in Flight!
by Tom Clements
To the best of my knowledge, all King Air Pilot’s Operating Handbooks (POHs) have now been revised to include the following statement in the Limitations section:
Do not lift the power levers in flight. Lifting the power levers in flight, or moving the power levers in flight below the flight idle position, could result in a nose- down pitch and a descent rate leading to aircraft damage and injury to personnel.
That is rather straightforward, correct? Beta and Reverse are intended for use while on the ground, of course, not while flying. No pilot with a working brain would be so silly as to lift and pull back on the power levers while flying. Or would they?
Sadly, yes; some very misguided pilots do indeed intentionally select Beta while still flying. In almost every case this involves a model 200 with the standard, older, three-blade propellers. Those airplanes have a tendency to float in the flare for landing, especially if any excess airspeed exists, if the condition levers are not back at Low Idle, and if the pilot overdoes the flare and holds the plane off of the runway for too long of a time. In this situation, coming slightly behind the power lever’s Idle gate causes the blade angle to go flatter, killing thrust, and causing the airplane to touchdown soon thereafter. Only in
18 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
APRIL 2015