Page 7 - April 25

Special inspections and MORE
Regardless of which inspection program your King
Air is on, you can see that King Airs have quite a few
components subject to special inspection, overhaul
or replacement. For example, the hydrostatic test on
the oxygen bottle is calendar-based, due at 36 or 60
months depending on your bottle. The instrument air
filter replacement is hour-based at every 600 hours. Your
starter generators need to be sent for overhaul every 1,000
hours. Replacement of the flap flex shaft is cycle-based,
due every 5,000 cycles.
Likewise, major items like landing gear, props and
engine maintenance are not covered by the phase
checklists. If you have an engine on the MORE program,
additional maintenance requirements are specified by
that program. The MORE program (Maintenance On
Reliable Engines) is a supplemental type certificate that
comes with its own manual. Detailed checklists of engine
maintenance items are included. It is very clear, and it
all must be done.
STCs and your POH
King Airs have been around for a long time. There are
lots of FAA-approved modifications and upgrades that
can be done. Propellers can be changed (four-blade or
swept-blade), engines can be changed (as in a Blackhawk
conversion) and, of course, Raisbeck offers many
performance-enhancing upgrades. All such modifications
or STCs have operational and maintenance instructions
that must be followed to maintain airworthiness.
They come with the STC paperwork and are known
as the instructions for continued airworthiness, or the
ICA. STCs, with their corresponding ICAs, are kept in
the supplements section of the pilot operating handbook.
This is a vital point! The airworthiness of your King
Air depends on the applicable ICAs being followed.
The ICA supersedes the maintenance manual and
gives the pertinent maintenance requirements for that
modification. If you put Commuter Air Technology’s Soft
Touch Tires on your King Air, don’t look in the manual for
tire pressures. Soft Touch Tires are STC’d so to service
them correctly, check the ICA.
This is really important. Not every shop is familiar with
King Airs. Time after time I find well-meaning mechanics
following the maintenance manual without realizing the
item they are working on is an STC modification with
an ICA in the POH. The mechanic remains focused on
the MM, unaware they are making incorrect settings or
adjustments. On two separate occasions I had to condemn
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APRIL 2025 KING AIR MAGAZINE •
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