Page 21 - Volume 11 Number 11

in flight while observing a slight increase in loadmeter readings. Only when that amperage increase is verified do you know that the boots were truly reconnected.
Do you know that in most King Airs the battery box cover can be installed backwards? The air vent louvers need to be at the aft end when installed, not in front. Air cooling is not nearly as important now as it was when NiCad batteries were common. Still, let’s orient the cover correctly.
If your airplane has undergone a significant avionics upgrade, it is so very important to do a flight test to verify that it is doing what it is supposed to do. Even the most capable and conscientious avionics shop can’t know for sure how an autopilot will track that new LPV glide path, for example, until it is demonstrated in flight. So many, many times I have found rather mind-blowing errors in this arena. One King Air would track its new GTN750 GPS course just fine in the normal Leg mode but it would always go in the exact opposite direction when in OBS mode. Another would never enter a programmed holding pattern. Instead, it would merely turn to the holding course heading and fly that until it ran out of gas!
I have seen a newly-installed GPS unit that never had the HSI’s course needle deviate from the center position! And this was far enough back in time that a flight test was required to gain IFR GPS approval ... and the flight test had been signed off as satisfactory!
The Killer of Killers ... Loose Friction Knobs
Most of my readers have heard me preach on this topic previously but it truly is incredibly important. Many pilots ensure their friction knobs are snugged up properly once and never give them further attention ... which is okay. Others fiddle with the friction often, loosening it for taxiing and tightening for flight ... and that’s also okay. But pity the
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KING AIR MAGAZINE • 19
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