Same Aircraft - Different Operating Procedures
The aircraft concerned is the Beech 76 Duchess.
I have been studying the checklists provided for this aircraft, by two separate flying schools based at the same airfield. School A’s aircraft are pretty much identical to those of School B; certainly in terms of engine and propeller fit. In fact, I understand that many of the aircraft have served at both schools at one time or another. Therefore, I’m a little confused as to why one school would have a different opinion to the other as to what power settings to use during certain flight phases.
Below are examples in terms of IAS (Knots), MAP (Inches) and RPM.
Normal Cruise: -
School A - 140 23 2300
School B - 140 22 2200
Hold: -
School A - 120 18 2300
School B - 120 17 2200
Single Engine Cruise: -
School A - 100 21 2400
School B - 110 25 2500
Now I could fully understand that certain aspects of system operation could be open to debate, but I would have thought that optimum engine power setting would not be one of them. Surely, this is determined by the aircraft and engine manufacturers during flight testing and initial certification and should not be open to interpretation by individual operators?