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6 around.
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switch terminal, completing a circuit that bypassed the switch completely.
Legal? Of course not. A work-around to complete the mission? Yes. I will also add this: For the rest of that entire series of flights, until we safely arrived back in the States, I was always occupying a cockpit seat and watching the flaps carefully whenever they operated. Had any roll tendency developed I would have been a rather fast-acting human split flap protector! When I bid farewell to the owner-pilot I emphasized that now he should have his shop find and fix the actual switch problem. It was time to retire the “temporary” work-
A little over a year later I was preflighting this same airplane during a recurrent training session. You guessed it: The switch was still bypassed. We did not fly until it got fixed. In another episode that I included in The King Air Book, I came across a 200 that was totally missing split flap protection switches on both sides. They were simply not there and the wires were screwed together to bypass them. By the next day they had been “found” and reinstalled, so we finally flew ... a head-scratcher for sure.
One of my more recent articles, dealing with descent planning, was entitled “Just Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean You Should.” I will close this month by applying that same principle to flap operation ... landing gear, too. As you know, there are maximum speed limits for flap and gear operation. When you get behind in your descent and approach planning and/or ATC is not making it easy for you, that’s when you are justified in extending the flaps and/or gear right at the maximum speed limit. But normally? With proper planning and execution? There is no reason for continually utilizing the limits. Your equipment will be subjected to a much easier life if we include a 20- or even 30-knot buffer, delaying extension until we are well below the limits. It might even save a few maintenance dollars! KA
King Air expert Tom Clements has been flying and instructing in King Airs for over 50 years and is the author of “The King Air Book” and “The King Air Book II.” 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 books, 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.
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22 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
MAY 2023