Page 20 - August 2023

ASK THE EXPERT
Landing Gear Emergency Extension Differences
by Tom Clements
This is a question I’ve published in the past, but is a good one to repeat for those who may not have owned a King Air when it was published earlier.
I was looking through some BE-200 landing gear information and wondered about the following:
For 200s and B200s with the electro-mechanical gear, the checklist says that airspeed should be below 130 knots and states, “Do Not Stow the emergency gear extension handle after you have pumped the gear down sufficiently to get all three green lights.”
For the B200s with the later hydraulic gear, the checklist makes no mention of slowing down first and
specifically states that if all three green down lights are illuminated to go ahead and “Stow the emergency gear extension handle.”
Would you please clarify why there is a difference? If you have any other comments on peculiarities and other differences in these landing gear systems, feel free to throw them in too!
I personally do not believe the 130 KIAS figure is very important but, by being at a slower speed, the initial
18 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
AUGUST 2023