Page 19 - January 23

Let’s see a show of hands: How many of you have experienced an honest-to-goodness engine fire in a King Air? As I expected, no hands are up. How about an honest-to-goodness engine failure, such as a main bearing going bad, or the RGB (Reduction Gearbox) uncoupling, or the high-pressure, engine-driven fuel pump failing, or an FCU (Fuel Control Unit) runaway? Yes, I see a smattering of hands now. Finally, hold up your hand if you’ve experienced a significant rollback in power, a rollback that caused no engine damage. Wow! Now I see a lot of hands are raised! (You didn’t know that I could see you through these pages, did you?)
For every true engine failure in the PT6-powered world, I believe there have been at least 10 times as many power rollbacks. Heck, maybe it’s 100 times as many. Of these rollbacks, a sizable number have been due to mechanical problems beyond the pilot’s control. These mechanical malfunctions include such things as: an open P3 supply line to the FCU, an open Py line between the FCU and the fuel topping governor, a slipping connection between the power lever cable and the beta cam box, and some internal FCU metering valve malfunction.
However, compared to these reasons for a loss of engine power that are beyond the pilot’s ability to control, there is one malfunction that leads to more rollbacks than any other and it is indeed within the pilot’s ability to control. Most of you know what I am going to give as the reason, don’t you? It is Power Lever Migration, the tendency for the power lever to spring back toward idle caused by a spring on its connection to the beta cam box.
The pilot action that prevents the spring from always pulling the power lever toward idle is ensuring that the power lever’s friction control is exerting enough resistance to the spring force.
I have addressed the importance of proper power lever friction setting in The King Air Book, in past magazine articles, in classes that I have taught and in a lot of replies written on the great BeechTalk website. I won’t belabor the point further here in this venue. Instead, I want to emphasize the proper steps of “The Drill” for when an engine problem is encountered in your King Air.
On the BeechTalk forum, in its “Beech Twins” section, there is a superb thread entitled Martin Pauly Video, Twin Training, “The Drill.” Martin travels to Mason City, Iowa, to receive training with Doug Rozendaal in Doug’s B55 Baron. Doug is an exceedingly accomplished pilot and instructor. Our getting to observe this training via the video is both enjoyable and educational. Even though it is dealing with a piston twin, King Air pilots will benefit from watching it. Take time to view it
(https://www.beechtalk.com/forums/viewtopic.php? f=3&t=162213&hilit=The+Drill). It will be time very well spent.
The Drill starts with setting the proper pitch attitude and then doing the mantra most of us learned during our initial multi-engine training. It starts with: Mixtures, Props, Throttles, Flaps, Gear. In the King Air, it has one less step: Power, Props, Flaps, Gear. I call these “Your Four Friends” and I consider them so important that I made their discussion the very first chapter in The King Air Book.
Let’s see what the POH has written concerning engine problems for the most populous King Air model, the B200. The first one in Emergency Procedures, Section 5, is titled “Emergency Engine Shutdown.” Here is what the POH states:
EMERGENCY ENGINE SHUTDOWN
= ENGINE TORQUE INCREASE – UNSCHEDULED (Ground or Flight)
(Not responsive to Power Lever Movement)
= ENGINE FIRE IN FLIGHT
= ENGINE FAILURE IN FLIGHT
Affected Engine:
1. Condition Lever – FUEL CUT OFF
2. Propeller Lever – FEATHER
3. Firewall Shut-off Valve – CLOSED
4. Fire Extinguisher (if installed) – ACTUATE (if required)
There are four more steps that deal with shutting off the generator and some other things.
Now let’s look at this procedure from that same section of the POH:
ENGINE FAILURE AFTER LIFTOFF (If Conditions Preclude an Immediate Landing)
1. Power – MAXIMUM ALLOWABLE
2. Airspeed – MAINTAIN (takeoff speed or above)
3. Landing Gear – UP
4. Propeller Lever (inoperative engine) – FEATHER (or verify FEATHER if autofeather is installed)
5. Airspeed – VYSE (after obstacle clearance altitude is reached)
6. Flaps – UP
JANUARY 2023
KING AIR MAGAZINE • 17