User Guide

227
Flight Instruction
226
Flight Instruction
Line up on the runway, check that the propeller controls are
all the way forward. Unless you anticipate a maximum-effort stop
or short-field landing, you can leave the condition levers in LO
IDLE. Turn ON the auto-feather and auto-ignition systems. The L
and R IGNITION lights will come on.
Up to now, the engines you’ve flown behind have been pro-
tected against exceeding their limits. The 172's normally-aspirat-
ed engine doesn’t have enough grunt to hurt itself in the first
place, and those of the Malibu Mirage and Navajo Chieftain have
automatic manifold-pressure controllers and limiter valves.
There’s nothing like that here: if you shove the power levers all the
way forward, you can instantly strip out the prop gearbox at low
altitude, or Chernobyl the turbine section when you get higher.
Instead, for takeoff, carefully advance the power levers until
you’re about 50 ft/lbs shy of the 2230 ft/lb redline; it’ll pick up the
rest of the torque as it accelerates on the takeoff roll. Verify that
the L and R IGNITION lights have gone out, and the L and R
AUTO-FEATHER ARM lights have come on.
Accelerate past the 86-knot V
M
C, lift off around 105, start
the gear up, and climb at about 130 knots. It gets upstairs a lot
faster than the Navajo, doesn’t it? For less noise, ease the power
levers back to about 1900 ft/lbs and pull the props back to 2000
RPM. As you do, you’ll notice the torque come back up, since the
props are now taking a bigger bite out of the air. Since this air-
plane doesn’t have counterrotating props, you’ll also need some
right rudder trim. Once you’re well away from the ground, turn
the auto-feather system OFF.
You’ll notice that, as you climb, the torque drops off. You
can regain it by carefully moving the power levers forward - but
notice, as you do, that the ITT rises. Sooner or later you’ll reach
an altitude at which ITT hits 770 deg. C., the maximum recom-
mended for climb or cruise. This is called the crossover point -
from now on, ITT, rather than torque, is the limiting factor.
Incidentally, this is one reason the airplane performs better on
cold days: you can advance the power levers farther before you
hit limiting temperature.
PRE-TAKEOFF CHECKS
Turn on the inverters and avionics and taxi to an active run-
way. With no magnetos to worry about, we won’t do an engine
“runup” in the traditional sense, but there are still a few items to
check. While you’re taxiing, you can experiment with the pro-
pellers’ “beta” range. Rather than riding the brakes to keep taxi
speed down, lift up on the power levers and ease them back below
IDLE. The L and R BETA lights will illuminate and the airplane will
slow up - you’re actually sneaking toward reverse thrust.
If you anticipate flight in icing conditions, check the
engines’ inertial separators. Run both engines up to 1800 RPM,
note the torquemeter reading, and move both ice vane switches
to EXTEND. The L and R ICE VANE annunciators will illuminate
and you should see a slight drop in torque. Return the switches to
RETRACT and verify that the annunciators go out and the original
torque value is regained. Return the power levers to IDLE.
Finally, we’ll check the auto-feather system. Hold the
auto-feather switch to the TEST position and advance both power
levers together until you reach about 500 ft/lbs of torque. The L
and R AUTO-FEATHER ARM lights will come on. Now, slowly
bring one power lever back. As torque passes through about 400
ft/lbs, the opposite AUTO-FEATHER ARM light will go out. Keep
reducing power; at about 260 ft/lbs, the propeller will start to
feather. Because the engine is actually still running, the torque will
increase as the prop blades begin to turn sideways, so it’ll “cycle”
in and out of feather; in an actual engine-failure situation, it would
feather all the way. Bring the power back up to 500 ft/lbs and
repeat the test on the other engine.
TAKEOFF, CLIMBOUT, AND
POWER MANAGEMENT
On the assumption that you know the basic flying moves by
now (would they trust you with a Super King Air if you didn’t?), I
won’t go into much detail about how to fly the airplane as such;
and if you want to try some instrument work, be my guest, but you
don’t need me to hold your hand! Instead, we’ll just touch on the
differences you can expect from piston power, and we’ll sample
one engine failure on takeoff to show you how much easier it is
in the Super King Air than in the Navajo Chieftain.