Page 23 - Volume 14 Number 1
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   Example of an F90 Engine Condition Trend Monitoring (ECTM) form.
form will be for naught ... never will an anomaly show up that can utilize the benefit of comparison between now and then. However, friends, I strongly believe that your effort will not be wasted. Instead, in 99% of cases, being able to compare accurately now and then is tremendously helpful. In the long run, it will almost assuredly save you some maintenance money. KA
King Air expert Tom Clements has been flying and instructing in King Airs for over 46 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, 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.
Unfortunately, my friend had not been recording ECTM readings in the past. Had that record existed I am positive it would have been obvious that the maintenance shop’s hypothesis was incorrect. If more power had suddenly been used due to a defective ITT reading, ECTM should have shown evidence of higher torque, more fuel flow, higher N1 speed and higher airspeed. Sadly, without written records, no firm argument could be made that using an incorrect, higher, power setting was not the cause of this expensive engine deterioration.
Some professional King Air training organizations provide a form for recording Engine Condition Trend Monitoring. If you have not yet added a version of that form to your flight records, please do so now. I suggest having a three-ring binder in the cockpit with one of its sections containing some ECTM forms. After leveling at your typical cruise altitude and setting power correctly based on the torque that the POH shows for your Pressure Altitude and Indicated Outside Air Temperature (IOAT) (see the section starting on page 159 of The King Air Book) let things stabilize for at least five minutes then fill out a line on the ECTM form. Do this for at least one flight per day and if you have a really long day with multiple flights, try to fill out a line at least every five hours or so. Taking the readings at any altitude is OK, but the results
JANUARY 2020
are usually more meaningful if you use the same altitude as often as practicable.
If you have no ECTM form available, email me at twcaz@msn. com, ask for one, and I will send my version to you.
Yes, there is a chance that the “work” of filling out the ECTM
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