Page 22 - Volume 11 Number 11

pilot who never adjusts them and then assumes that they are at the same setting when leaving the shop as they were when entering it. Folks, whenever engine rigging takes place, it is common that the friction controls will be backed off to the totally loose position. This allows the engine-end of the control to be moved freely by hand, with the cockpit-end moving in unison. If the friction has not been reset, and if the pilot does not carefully follow every step of the checklist, it is possible to depart with them still loose. Condition Lever and Propeller Lever friction is not too important, but Power Lever? Oh my goodness! Those levers will spring strongly back toward idle when the pilot’s hand moves to the landing gear control.
If the pilot notices what is happening – of course that is usually the case – then the outcome is more comical than anything else as he tries to fly, get the gear up, and tighten the friction while not letting the power be too low. But if the power lever migration is not seen, then disaster can result. With both levers migrating back, but with the left almost always going to a lower power setting than the right, there may not be sufficient power to sustain flight. Also, the differential in power tends to lead the pilot to think that an engine has, in fact, failed. Furthermore, the marvelous autofeather system is rendered inoperative due to the migration of the levers.
Yet it is understandable – although not excusable – for the pilot to never carry out the first step of his “Suspected Power Loss” procedure ... advancing both Power Levers! Why? Because in his mind that was already done as the takeoff roll began. In other words, the “Power” and “Props” steps are already done in his mind, maybe even the “Flaps” step. So he thinks all he has to do is get the “Gear” step done and watch autofeather do its job. (Or Identity, Verify, and Feather manually if the airplane does not have the system.)
Please, please, please, give proper attention to Power Lever friction before every takeoff!
One Good Shop
I have been very fortunate in having Honest Air conduct most of the maintenance on the C90A that I have managed and flown over the last 10 years for its Phoenix-based owner. This is the maintenance facility that was owned and operated by our own Dean Benedict who writes a bi-monthly column in this magazine. Dean’s long-time King Air experience, his product- specific knowledge, his conscientious and caring attitude, the help he gets from his employees and his hard-working wife, Lisa, all contribute to providing King Air maintenance of the very highest caliber. Never have I gone to pick up the C90A without finding it completed, cleaned, and with every nuance attended to perfectly. Never once can I recall finding anything amiss during my lengthy preflight and run-up procedures. Yet I still do it all. And you know what? Dean wants me to! He realizes that we are all human and mistakes can and will be made. Just recently Dean’s article commented on those few pilots who showed up at his place, shook his hand and viewed the log books (because Dean insists they do), then walked straight to the cabin door, closed it, started up, taxi’d out, and took to the runway without ever stopping for a run-up. Golly, does that bug him!
Be Thorough
In my opinion, the best way to approach the post- maintenance flight is to do it as slowly and methodically as practicable using the lengthy POH checklists in their entirety. In fact, you should do that twice ... taking the airplane to the shop and picking it up from the shop. By doing it before, you can discover any abnormalities that need the shop’s attention. Of course, doing it after can uncover the errors that may exist. In addition to the full preflight and run-up procedures, I also recommend an inflight Flow Pack, Leak Rate, and Cabin Altitude annunciator check accomplished before the phase inspection to determine how the aircraft stands in these important areas. These checks are easier to perform in flight than in the shop’s hangar.
One more suggestion is to takeoff using Approach flaps if airport conditions permit, as they almost always will. Recall that most, but not all, King Airs have a system that causes the landing gear warning horn to blow
20 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
NOVEMBER 2017