Page 24 - April 2015 Volume 9, Number 4

This particular day, my transi- tioning student had been doing an excellent job, as would be expected with his previous A90 time. We had briefed this maneuver and he totally knew what to expect. I made the “Go Around” call and pulled the left condition lever back to the fuel cut-off position. He began executing the procedure perfectly: Power went to the proper ITT or Torque limit, the propeller levers were smoothly advanced full forward, the flaps came up, the gear came up, and all the while he managed to obtain and hold VYSE very nicely, as well as heading. This older C90 did not have the optional autofeather system, so now came the “Identity, Verify, and Feather” steps.
He said aloud, “Left foot is dead,” and pointed at the low reading on the left torque gauge. He then slowly and carefully pulled the left power lever back to Idle to verify that no sound or thrust change occurred. The landing gear warning horn was triggered by this action and he even reached for the button and silenced it! Only one thing remained, feathering. He brought his hand off of the silence button back to the power quadrant, grabbed the left power lever – the one he’d just brought to Idle – picked it up, and pulled it all the way back to Maximum Reverse!
If there’d been a video of my face, you’d be surprised how wide my eyes could open! And if there had been audio, you’d know that I am not averse to letting certain expletives leave my lips!
The airplane seemed to pivot around that left propeller as we turned about 90 degrees left and found ourselves in what seemed to be a straight-down pitch attitude ... although I doubt it was much more than 20 degrees, if even that. I pulled power back on the right engine and pushed the left power lever forward over the Idle gate. Control was immediately regained so we eased out of the dive, added power on the right engine, leveled off, and got our heart out of our throats and back in to our chests.
In this situation, with slow airspeed and no power whatsoever, the left propeller had definitely reached an underspeed condition, resting solidly on its Low Pitch Stop. So when the LPS was moved to Reverse, the blades followed! Of course, without any fuel, we never added power as would normally happen when one leaves Beta and enters Reverse, but we certainly had a negative blade angle and all the extra drag that comes with it.
I looked over at my student and asked the obvious, “Why did you do that?!”
His answer was, and is, very interesting. He was feeling very embarrassed and stupid. His answer? “I did it because I saw the red and white stripes for Reverse and thought they were the red and white stripes for Feather.”
This early C90 – like more than half of all King Airs still flying today – did not have the Ground Fine power lever stop that came in later years. The only separation between Beta and Reverse is shown by the stripes being painted on the power quadrant. There was certainly no intention on his part to lift the power levers in flight nor to pull them back into Reverse ... but it certainly happened due to his error in selecting the correct lever for feathering.
As I keep saying, y’all be careful out there! KA
About the Author: King Air expert Tom Clements has been flying and instructing in King Airs for over 43 years, and is the author of “The King Air Book.” He is a Gold Seal CFI and has over 23,000 total hours, with more than 15,000 in King Airs. For information on ordering his book go to www.flightreview.net. Tom is actively mentoring the instructors at King Air Academy in Phoenix.
If you have a question you’d like Tom to answer, please send it to Editor Kim Blonigen at kblonigen@ cox.net.
22 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
APRIL 2015