Page 27 - Volume 10 Number 8

for every King Air ever built, you won’t be too far off. It’s simple, it works, and it provides a comfortable margin above stall speed.
Yes, there may be that one-time-in-a-hundred in which the caution or warning activated when airspeed was not high. If you are already near 120, then obviously you cannot convert a lot of kinetic energy into potential energy by zoom-climbing out of trouble. Now the nose will indeed need to stay near 12 degrees as you complete the four friends procedure.
If you are uncomfortable experiencing this practice scenario by yourself, then seek an experienced instructor to fly with you and/or request a TAWS scenario during your next simulator session.
I believe that practicing the terrain evasion maneuver is important to ingrain the proper steps into your memory and to experience the actual zoom-climb. However, knowing what’s to come and being prepared to conduct the proper steps bears very little resemblance to the state of mind that will likely exist when you hear that caution for the first time while in IMC. It is common to have an initial reaction of “Wait, that can’t be right! I know I am at a safe altitude according to this approach plate. I wonder why it’s squawking at me?!” That reaction, friends, can get you killed.
Remember: Humans make mistakes. Maybe today you are making one of yours, and maybe it is about to have a tragic ending. The proper, safe, reaction is always to quickly and properly execute the terrain evasion maneuver. Analyze why the caution or warning occurred later ... and, yes, maybe it was indeed an error. But now, climb like a space shuttle launch!
TAWS includes some neat features that are not always dependent upon imminent terrain impact. It announces when you are 500 feet above the landing runway or the terrain below you. It chastises you if you deviate too much below a glideslope. It has a “Don’t sink” call if the after takeoff flight path starts going down instead of up. It also includes cautions caused by being close to landing without gear and flaps extended. You should know how to disable the flap caution when you are executing a low ILS approach to a long runway and have decided to land with approach flaps.
In fact, you should know how to disable the entire system! There are two cases in which this is so desirable as to be nearly mandatory. First, landing at some private ranch strip that is not in the TAWS airport database will yield a myriad of cautions and warnings that are nothing but distracting to you and scary to your passengers. Second, giving your passengers a nice, calm air tour of some alpine mountaintops or deciding to cruise down a remote isolated coastline only a few hundred feet above the sand ... the pleasure of these types of airborne adventures is rapidly lost when all you hear are incessant cautions and warnings!
AUGUST 2016
One last comment: The earth’s surface – the terrain map that the TAWS contains – does not change much (at least we hope that’s the case!) so the need for regular and often database updates for new terrain does not exist. On the other hand, many items in the database do indeed change: perhaps a new airport is built, existing airports change as runways are added or removed, previous database errors are corrected, obstacles – also in many databases – can and do change as new towers are erected or old ones are demolished. Thus, updating the TAWS database in accordance with the POH Supplement’s instructions is important. If no guidelines are given, I recommend getting it done no less than annually.
TAWS is indeed a lifesaver ... but only if pilots heed its messages and execute the correct procedures. Fly safe! KA
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.
Your Source for King Air Landing Gear
• Inspect • Overhaul • Exchange • Install
• CompleteShipSets• KingAirAircraftMaintenance
601-936-3599 • www.traceaviation.com
KING AIR MAGAZINE • 25