Page 8 - Volume 12 Number 4

Jonathan Lukca conducts a ight check on Air Inuit’s
King Air 350. Lukca has been with the regional carrier since 2008 and has close to 7,000 total hours, including 2,050
on King Air aircraft.
“With the new avionics package, we increased safety by standardizing the cockpit layout,” Lukca said. “Despite being the same aircraft type, each cockpit had its differences. This makes it easier to transition from one airplane to another. By doing this modi cation, we also signi cantly lightened the nose of the aircraft which created signi cant weight and balance challenges when optimizing ights. We installed two lead nose ballast weighing in at 45 pounds each, so we can operate the A100s at maximum, nine-passenger capacity without any balance issues.”
Adding the King Air 350
Air Inuit wanted to bring a newer aircraft into the mix and began researching options in 2016. They considered a Beechcraft 1900, but found the King Air 350 offered the best performance considering the shorter runways in northern Quebec.
“For pilots, going from the 100 to the 350 is like going from a sedan to a top of the line sports car,” Lukca
6 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
Air Inuit began using Beechcraft King Air aircraft in the early 1990s to accommodate an expanding ight network in northern Quebec and to improve emergency medical transportation ights. Here, a King Air 100 in Kuujjuaq is getting ready for a ight.
said. “They both do the job very well, however the performance of the 350 still impresses me! We’re able to y farther and faster than the 100, meaning we can accomplish missions that would, in the King Air 100, require more time and possibly fuel stops.”
Air Inuit acquired a 2000 King Air 350 in early 2017. It has about 6,000 hours and is based in Montreal, where it is mostly used for executive charter and medevac operations.
“Before acquiring the 350, we had a focus group consisting of Patrick Carrière, our King Air and Twin Otter chief pilot, myself, dispatch, the operational control manager and maintenance personnel to determine the most suitable avionics suite for our operation,” Lukca said. “We looked at Pro Line 21, EFIS 85, Garmin and Universal cockpit con gurations and determined that the Universal cockpit was best suited for our operation. The 350’s cockpit was completely overhauled and now consists of the standard Collins autopilot, three Universal EFI 890 Flight Displays and two Universal UNS-1LW Flight Management Systems and USB charging ports for our electronic ight bag.”
The 350 is currently in an eight-passenger executive club con guration with room for a ninth passenger at
APRIL 2018