Page 14 - Volume 11 Number 5

Ask the Expert
Abort! Abort!
by Tom Clements
Ihope most of the readers of King Air magazine are familiar with the BeechTalk internet forum (www.beechtalk.com). The site is very well-run and controlled by its moderators, members must use their real names, and it is visited regularly by a wide variety of people from novices just entering aviation to old timers like me and many others. The common bond we share is an interest in and love for Beechcraft airplanes, both old and new. Since the Beechcraft airplane model line involves such a mix of planes spanning over 85(!) years of production, the site is logically divided into sections that apply to certain parts of this spectrum: Singles, Twins, Turbines, Classics, etc. I encourage my readers who have not yet discovered this forum to log on and take a look at the Turbines section. There is a lot of great information there. A search button allows you to quickly find past threads of interest. However, I should give you a warning: When you start to explore, don’t have any important plans for the next few hours! You will quickly become enthralled by what you find.
One of the topics that recently received attention on the forum involved an aborted takeoff in a B200 King Air. The abort was initiated at about 60 knots while attempting to depart from an 8,000-foot-long runway. An outboard tire was blown during the abort that was initiated due to the illumination of the “Hydraulic Fluid Low” caution annunciator ... yellow in color. The originator of the thread wanted input from the forum members to help answer two questions he had: (1) Was the abort justified? Should they have stopped due to that caution light? (2) Would blowing a tire be expected
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under these conditions? You can find and read that thread on BeechTalk and find a lot of good thoughts in the replies presented.
I, too, responded to the questions and it gave me the idea for this month’s article. I’d like to share with you my thoughts on this situation, in particular, and aborted takeoffs in general.
My discussion will begin with the acknowledgement that an aborted takeoff can and should be an absolute non-event, regardless of the speed – within reason – at which the abort is initiated, if the runway is long enough. On an 8,000-foot, low-altitude runway, I believe any King Air pilot should be able to abort even at 100 KIAS and have absolutely no trouble slowing to a stop with many feet to spare. Furthermore, the abort procedure would not have to be a rushed or scary event at all: Just come to Idle, lift and enter Beta, then Reverse (don’t hesitate to use it all at first!) and finally start applying brakes about the time you start leaving Reverse to get back to Beta. The Pilot’s Operating Handbook (POH) says that we should not be in Reverse below 40 KIAS, so I start moving the power levers forward from Maximum Reverse at 60 and have them at Flat Pitch – the bottom of the Beta range, called Ground Fine on the later models – by 40. As the power levers leave Max Reverse and start coming forward, that’s the time I start using brakes – even getting on them hard, if needed – at 40 knots and below. By 40 knots, the wing’s lift is small enough that the aircraft’s weight will be mostly supported by the tires, meaning that the chance of locking up a tire causing it to be scuffed or even blown is small.
MAY 2017
(PHOTO CREDIT: DAN MOORE VMG LLC)