Page 19 - Volume 10 Number 7

well even with a 20 percent power “loss.” Not to mention, the next step that should be accomplished after POWER has been added is to consider the PROPS and, if more power is needed, push them forward before retracting FLAPS and GEAR.
(Power, Props, Flaps, Gear ... that has a familiar ring to it, doesn’t it?!)
Here’s my strong suggestion: Yes, for the normal landing, leave the props alone until the RPM decreases. For many King Air models, this won’t happen until in the flare or even after touchdown. The 300-series is the exception, with the props going into an underspeed condition – slowing down, coming off of the governor – usually on short final. However, the instant the landing becomes abnormal in any way, forget the noise concerns and push the prop levers fully forward early in the landing procedure, usually about the time the gear is extended. These abnormal situations include, to me, not just the Short Field and Single-Engine situations that Beech addresses, but also include (1) very low ceiling and visibility precision approaches in which the chance of a missed approach is greater, (2) landing with very gusty winds, in which not only will power be jockeyed a lot more than normal on the approach but, again, the chance of a balked landing is greater, and (3) unusual and challenging visual approaches to airstrips in mountainous terrain.
Suppose that your King Air model rarely, if ever, carries passengers for the landing. Freight haulers, sky-diving jump airplanes, and special mission military operations come to mind. Now interior noise is not a factor and, to be frank, exterior noise from a landing King Air is relatively minor even when the props are turning at maximum speed. So it probably
JULY 2016
KING AIR MAGAZINE • 17