Page 25 - February 2022

On Saturday, Dec. 11, 2021, I had the pleasure of trying out the ThrustSense Autothrottle system for the first time. IS&S is the abbreviation for Innovative Solutions and Support, the company that designed, tested and certified this system that adjusts power lever position to maintain a torque value or an airspeed value that the pilot desires.
Textron Aviation has made this system standard equipment on all King Air 260s and 360s, the only civilian King Air models currently being manufactured. I expect that with this factory “approval” we will be seeing many more ThrustSense systems installed in the retrofit marketplace.
At KAG IV – the fourth King Air Gathering – held at Fredericksburg, Texas, in 2019, I rode in the right seat while the system was being demonstrated. I was favorably impressed but felt that I knew very little about the system based on this one brief flight.
As most of you know, I have been involved in numerous King Air training videos that may be found on the King Air Academy (KAA) channel of YouTube. Kevin Carson, manager of KAA, does the hard work of filming and editing while I get to have fun flying and teaching about various King Air particulars. Based on these videos, IS&S Director of Sales Larry Riddle approached Kevin with the idea of making a video of us using the ThrustSense system. Kevin and I thought it was a great idea since it would expose the system to a wider audience, would serve as one more endorsement for the King Air Academy, and be a useful training aid for all future ThrustSense users.
Larry offered a time at which the IS&S demonstrator and flight test King Air B200GT (N313BM, serial no. BY-60) would be available to arrive at Deer Valley Airport (KDVT) in Phoenix where KAA is located. He also emailed us the Pilot’s Guide and Quick Check Reference for the system so that I could be somewhat prepared before starting the flight phase. Eric Smedberg, the IS&S test and demonstration pilot, would be the PIC in the right seat, I would fly the airplane and experiment with the IS&S system from the left seat, while Kevin would be filming from the seat behind the co-pilot. We were happy to discover that, since this airplane is their demonstrator, Kevin’s seat was now installed in a forward-facing position and the cockpit/cabin divider had been removed. Both changes made his filming considerably easier.
I created a flight test plan for what I wanted to accomplish in the airplane. The plan was to fly from KDVT to Winslow (KINW), then to Flagstaff (KFLG) and finally return to KDVT. As it turned out, we decided to refuel at KINW and canceled our leg to KFLG. As is so typical of Arizona, the weather was perfect and we made the entire flight in visual conditions without an IFR flight plan. (You can examine our tracks on the FlightAware site.)
The control and display panel for the ThrustSense system is referred to as the ISU: Integrated Standby Unit. It replaces the normal ESIS (Electronic Standby Instrument System) display that comes standard with the Collins Pro Line 21 and Pro Line Fusion systems. That’s where the “Standby” part of the name comes from. Like the original ESIS, there is a switch for power on the pilot’s left subpanel and it has a backup internal battery. The ISU is mounted just above the radio tuning
FEBRUARY 2022
KING AIR MAGAZINE • 23