Page 22 - April 2022

tip extensions, outboard of the main spar, and aileron ends. Also (and so very satisfying to pilots!) the handling quality improved immensely. Due to balanced ailerons and elevators, the airplane felt like it had power steering. What a delightful handling machine, one of the best of all the King Air models!
In 1969, the King Air model 100 appeared, with the cabin stretched by 4 feet, 680 SHP PT6A-28 engines, dual main landing gear, an improved fuel system, a higher gross weight, and with identical left and right “Bleed Air Flow Control Packages” – Flow Packs, for short – replacing the single roots-type supercharger on the left engine only. This was a huge improvement and continues to the present day.
In brief, Beech took some of these improved systems from the 100 and installed many of them on the B90 to create the C90, beginning with LJ-502, appearing in 1971. Gross weight, fuselage and controls, engines, fuel system, performance all remained the same as the B90. But the bleed air pressurization source – putting out a lot of compressed and therefore hot air – allowed the somewhat troublesome Jet-A-burning combustion heater to be removed, replaced by a simple and reliable electric heater. From 1971 until 2020, the King Air C90 line continued, with lots and lots of small and large improvements made along the way. A C90GTx
looks almost identical to LJ-501, yet the systems and performance are tremendously improved.
But that’s fodder for a future article. I consider myself very blessed, indeed, to have entered the King Air world as early as I did, 50 years ago. KA
King Air expert Tom Clements has been flying and instructing in King Airs for over 50 years and is the author of “The King Air Book” and “The King Air Book II.” 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 books, 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.
Comprehensive support for all areas of your King Air
Paint and interior: Total and Partial Refurbishment.
Avionics: G1000 upgrades, Wi-Fi, Text, and Cabin Entertainment
Service Department: Phase Inspections, Component Overhaul, Mods and Upgrades from Advent, Blackhawk, BLR, and Raisbeck.
Prop Shop: Overhauls, Exchanges, Repairs, STC Conversions
ONE STOP, for all your King Air needs.
Yingling, the premier full service MRO/FBO in the Southern Plains. Everything you need in one stop to make your King Air beautiful, current on technology, and wheels-up ready when you are.
Interiors
25 14 29
Service (Airframe and Engines)
Contact us for Equally Comprehensive support for Citations
Exterior Paint
Winglets
Prop Sales & Service
316.943.3246 or toll free: 800.835.0083 [ FBO OPEN 24/7 ] http://www.yinglingaviation.com
LOCATED AT THE DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER NATIONAL AIRPORT2010 AIRPORT ROAD, WICHITA, KS 67209
Avionics
20 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
APRIL 2022