King air flight assesment

[Ryan2811]

OK so I will start by apologising if this is in the wrong section, admins please feel free to move it.

So I am currently going through the section process for a small king air outfit in the UK. I have so far passed the interview and an assessed flight on a PA-34 and have now been invited to take an assessed flight on their C90gtx (proline 21). I am what would be classified as a low hours pilot and have no previous real world turbine / turboprop time.

This for me is an excellent opportunity to start my career flying in an aircraft which offers a lot of hands on flying opportunities.

So to the meat! I am after advice from experienced prop guys if you can recommend any books manuals etc that I should be getting my head into. There may be an opportunity to get in a fixed based king air FNPT but it would be the older round gauge layout or should I pay for some more time in the Seneca?

Any helpful advise would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance

[Dash 42]

G'day Ryan,


The King Air is a wonderful aeroplane to fly, I would recommend you google the Beech Talk forum, register, then go to the turbines section. There is a plethora of King Air info on there, particularly from a gentleman named Tom Clements. He also has a fantastic book available called "The King Air Book", which offers many flying tips for the machine.

That being said, it's just an aeroplane, 2 wings etc... However, to reduce your time spent hanging onto the tail, get across the magic numbers for type, like configurations, and critical speeds. I can't help you with the 90 unfortunately. There is a 90 series flight manual available at:

Plane Raytheon BEECHCRAFT-KING-AIR-90-SERIES (http://www.smartcockpit.com/plane/RAYTHEON-HAWKER/BEECHCRAFT-KING-AIR-90-SERIES.html)

One last thing, don't allow all the info on the P21 to overwhelm you, remember Power + Attitude = Performance! KISS!


Good luck.

[SloppyJoe]

Try really hard to get into the fixed base sim for a few hours. The instrumentation is not a big deal, the same information is there in both layouts although on your first flight in the aircraft a lot of the EFIS info will be surplus to your requirements.

If as a low time guy applying for a right seat you can show that you fly accurately, sensibly, economically and look after their aircraft you have done more than enough. Time in the fixed base sim will just make you that bit more comfortable with the speeds, limitations and how it handles, close the throttles on a seneca and not much happens, do it on a twin turboprop and you may be surprised how fast you come down, slow down or both.

Am sure you do this already but look after their engines, you say its a small operator so those two engines are a big deal. Be smooth with them, don't leave them at max power when it is not required, assume you will be light so it wont be long after take off that you will be reducing power. Know the limitations, engine temps for max start, max continuous etc, know the weights and know limiting speeds. Those are the minimum limits you should know, anything else is a bonus but dont get carried away with oil temp limits etc, that's what the green bands and red lines are for.

Good luck.

[hingey]

If you're going to learn engine parameters, make sure you learn the numbers for the correct engine! There are about 4 or 5 million engine options across the King Air range

[Ryan2811]

I got the job! Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread.

[de facto]

Well done!:ok: