Page 12 - March 25

FROM THE TRAINING CENTER
Are You a Stable Pilot?
by Pete Marx
approach. But what is a stabilized approach and
I believe we all have heard the term stabilized
why should you practice it?
One of the many aspects that makes the King Air
appealing is that it is a forgiving airplane. This makes
it a great platform to transition into from a slower,
nonpressurized, reciprocating aircraft. Once experience
is gained and we are comfortable in the King Air, we can
sometimes push the limits of what the airplane can do.
For example, when the controller asks us, “King Air
XYZ, can you make a short approach to runway xx?”
Too often we find ourselves complying by performing a
very close in base-to-final, with a 45-degree bank angle
and high sink rate. In a turboprop airplane, the pilot
can pull the power levers to idle at any time without
concern for cooling the engine too rapidly. Consequently,
rapid descents with the propellers in low pitch can be
dramatically steep. The King Air is so forgiving that
you may be able to get away with this maneuver. This
can be fun; however, it is reducing our buffer of safety
significantly. If it results in a successful landing, it will
reward unsafe behavior.
What do I mean by buffer of safety?
Think of a target that represents safety, where the
center of the target is the highest level of safety. As you
move toward the outer rings, your safety level decreases
until you are outside the target resulting in an accident
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­ KING AIR MAGAZINE MARCH 2025