User Guide

229
Flight Instruction
228
Flight Instruction
ENGINE FAILURE ON TAKEOFF
Taxi back for takeoff and get things set up. Since you have
all the goodies to help you, we don’t want to make things too easy
- so we’ll do a short-field takeoff, with the flaps set at the first
notch. Plan to rotate at 94 knots, and aim for 106 knots as you
pass through 50 feet and get the airplane cleaned up.
We’re going to “fail” the left engine (the critical one) right at
rotation. Since the PT6-A is a free turbine engine, we don’t need
to shut it down; at idle power, there’s no reason not to feather it
and just let it run. The prop blades will be paddling around at
pretty low RPM, but they won’t be producing any thrust, and at
idle power the exhaust effects are negligible. Make sure auto-
feather is armed and rudder boost is switched on.
OK, here we go! Power levers up, set torque at about 2180
ft/lbs, and accelerate. At 94 knots, rotate, and as soon as the air-
plane lifts off, yank the left power lever all the way back to idle.
The airplane will certainly check, and swerve to the left - but
it won’t be nearly so bad as it was in the Chieftain! Out of the cor-
ner of your eye, you’ll see the left tach unwinding: the left engine
has feathered. Check that the L and R AUTO-FEATHER ARM lights
have both gone out: the left one because it’s done its job, and the
right one because the system is preventing “fratricide.” As soon as
you’re sure the airplane is solidly in the air, retract the gear.
The airplane won’t have lost much, if any, speed; but you
can anticipate that it might “sag” a bit as the flaps come up.
Carefully let it accelerate to its best single-engine angle of climb
speed, or V
XSE
, of 115 knots. (Hint: have trouble remembering that
V
X
speeds mean angles, and V
Y
speeds mean rates? There are
more angles in the letter X than there are in the letter Y.) Maintain
V
XSE
until you’ve gained 100 feet.
NORMAL LANDING
Spend as much time as you want feeling out the airplane; as
always, steep turns, stalls, and “FAA Weaves” are an excellent
way to do so. When it’s time to head back to the field, you’ll see
another advantage of turboprops: while it’s still nice to avoid sud-
den major temperature changes, if you need to get down fast you
can just smoothly pull the power levers all the way back to “idle”
and come down like a rock. You’ll get a landing-gear warning
horn; you can silence it by pushing the button on the left power
lever. The system will reset as soon as you bring the power above
idle again.
Enter the landing pattern about 1500 feet above the ground
and arm the auto-feather system. The first notch of flaps can go
down at 200 knots, the gear at 181, and the rest of the flaps at
157, so it’s easy to slow down. Plan to slow to 110 to 115 knots
on short final, depending on aircraft weight. If you want to make
a maximum-effort short-field landing, set the prop controls all the
way forward and set the condition levers to HI IDLE. In the real
world, however, people who can afford to travel by King Air like
their peace and quiet, so leave the props where you had them for
cruise. When the gear comes down, you’ll get a yellow RVS NOT
READY annunciator...just live with it!
As you cross the threshold, ease the power levers back to
idle, raise the nose to the horizon, and let the airplane settle onto
the main gear. As the nose comes down (lower it gently so it does-
n’t thump to the runway), briskly move the prop controls all the
way forward; then lift the power levers and pull them into reverse.
Even without heavy braking, the airplane will slow quickly.
Unless you’re on a recently-swept hard-surface runway, try to get
out of reverse before you’re down to 40 knots, or you’ll pick up a
lot of dirt and gravel and chew up your prop blades.