Page 17 - Volume 11 Number 10

device that can be connected to the propeller when parked on a windy ramp: The engine people want to prevent propeller RGB and N2 shaft rotation when no positive lubrication is being supplied. Beech’s factory-provided restraints consist of a rubberized fabric sleeve that fits over the end of one propeller blade and two elastic straps that connect the sleeve to two rubberized fabric exhaust stack covers.
Questions have often been raised during initial and recurrent King Air pilot training classes about the importance of and use of the restraints. A common one is “How important is it to stop rotation? If I am just going to be in the FBO for 15 minutes, paying the ramp fee, should I put the restraints on?” Also, “How cool should the exhaust stacks be before I attach the restraint?” And the ever-popular one, “Should I place the propeller blade with the sleeve attached in the up or down position?”
There are not black-and-white, right-or-wrong answers to these questions. Some operators let the props spin for an hour or more while others install the restraint immediately before leaving the airplane alone. Some exhaust stack covers are more heat-resistant that others ... and some pilot’s fingers are more heat sensitive than others! The up versus down question? I doubt that an answer will ever be resolved to everyone’s satisfaction. But let me provide a few of my observations, comments and “war stories.”
If you have spent time in Wichita, Kansas, you well know that it is usually windy there. Leaving the King Air on the ramp without restraints will almost always lead to aggressive propeller rotation. We at the Beechcraft Training Center always emphasized
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