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approach began and the student correctly identified that malfunction as he selected approach flaps. The proper no flap VREF speed, based on landing weight, was determined and now an extra element of challenge was added since the circle-to-land would be made without flaps.
All was going well as the threshold of Runway 4 was passed. The student failed to reduce power to idle soon enough – compared to the 200 he had been flying, the 300 is quite a floater! – so the 300 overshot the fixed distance markers and floated in ground effect.
With no warning or comment, the pilot reverted to a horrible habit pattern he had developed in flying the 200: He picked up both power levers to ease them back into the Beta range. Although this violates the POH limitation – Do Not lift the Power Levers in Flight – it is a technique that some 200 pilots have found works well when a little extra propeller drag is desired. With the propellers in an underspeed condition, resting on the Low Pitch Stops, the pilot can move the LPS to a flatter angle by pulling the power levers back and the airplane usually settles to the runway nicely.
Don’t do this! Someday one prop will respond and the other will not, or you will misjudge the altitude and “fall out of the sky” with a bang, or you’ll be so much above the proper VREF that the propellers won’t be in an
underspeed condition so they will not enter Beta. Like the POH says: Do Not Lift the Power Levers in Flight!
The 300’s LPS system is very different from the 200’s. The 300 has two Low Pitch Stops, Flight and Ground. The Flight Low Pitch Stop (FLPS) is active in the flare but as soon as the power levers are lifted the Ground Low Pitch Stop (GLPS) is activated and the blade angle flattens by a huge 12-degree amount. This adds tremendous drag!
When the student lifted the power levers, the aircraft basically stopped flying and thudded onto the runway with a vengeance. As they rolled out, the instructor let the student know, in no uncertain terms, that he had just made a major boo-boo and to never, ever use that illegal technique again. Amid nervous laughter – glad the airplane was still operational! – the student said he’d learned his lesson!
A couple of additional takeoffs and another approach were made at KHUT and then they took the short flight back to Beech Field with one last approach there. Only when the props stopped turning at Beech did both pilots discover, in horror, that they now had the only 300 in existence with Q-Tip propellers. Remember those? They were popular for a while on Turbo Commanders as well as some other models. It was where each propeller tip was bent back at a 90-degree angle ... somewhat like
18 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
NOVEMBER 2018