Page 27 - Volume 13 Number 4

there was a dead foot since he was still stomping on the right pedal, causing a very uncoordinated flight condition! The poor fellow pulled the left power lever back – failing to notice that indeed power was being reduced dramatically – pulled the propeller lever into feather, and even continued to start to pull the condition lever into cutoff. I blocked his hand to prevent that from taking place, took the controls, and had him remove the hood. I pointed out the condition we were in ... a perfectly good left engine at idle with its propeller feathered, turning about 400 RPM.
The big mistake was not executing the “Identify” step of The Drill correctly. I think, in his mind, he had identified the left engine as the dead one the instant he felt the initial yaw toward the left. He never considered that the sneaky CFI (me!) would reintroduce fuel and the engine would come back to life.
Another one of my students was almost snail-like in conducting The Drill when I gave him an engine failure during cruise. He did each step so very, very slowly, it was almost excruciating to watch. But you know what? I never saw him make a mistake in the procedure throughout our numerous training sessions over the years. What’s the adage? “Haste Makes Waste.” Golly, is that ever true!
I am realistic enough to realize that my opinions and beliefs will not cause every POH’s emergency procedures to be revised, maybe not even one. Nevertheless, in my dreams I would prefer the concept of “Engine Failure” be replaced with the concept of “Suspected Power Loss.” Until you’ve done The Drill how do you know that the engine has truly failed? Give it a chance to return to normal operation before you shut it down!
The article entitled “The Amazing History of BB-1” that appeared in the January 2019 issue included mention of when she was used as an air ambulance mock-up. Gerald Mobley – whom I had tried to contact, without success, while writing the report – read the article and was thoughtful enough to offer a more accurate history of this phase of BB-1’s life. Here is what I should have written:
“In the 1980s, Gerald Mobley was chief pilot and director of aviation for Deaconess Medical Center in Billings, Montana, an air ambulance operation that was using two King Air 200s and two C90s.
APRIL 2019
Mobley approached the medical center with the idea that they could increase their air ambulance and doctor outreach flights if the general public realized the planes being used were state-of-the-art, not the small, cramped, unsafe, lightweight aircraft perceived by the public. He was convinced that if Deaconess could display a mock-up of the actual King Air 200 ambulance interior to the end- users – exhibiting the stabilized stretcher installation and showing the roominess of the cabin, including seats for the flight nurses and a patient relative – the medical center could attract patients from many areas of Montana and neighboring states.
In his quest to find a 200 fuselage to make into a mock-up, Mobley contacted Beech – from whom he had just purchased two B200s to use in this program – and convinced them to give him BB-1. The wings and tail were removed, the left side of the fuselage was cut away and it was housed in a specially designed trailer that traveled to rural clinics and hospitals as well as health fairs. Mobley reported that the program was quite successful in alleviating the public’s concerns.” KA
King Air expert Tom Clements has been flying and instructing in King Airs for over 46 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, contact Tom direct at twcaz@msn. com. 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 editor@blonigen.net.
KING AIR MAGAZINE • 25