I see a lot of questions about the King Air’s autofeather system in online discussions. It’s not just the newly minted King Air pilots that are asking. Many a King Air pilot with plenty of hours under their belt have had the occasional “synapse lapse,” so I thought a basic review of autofeather would be…
Recently, I’ve heard from several King Air owners who read this magazine and called me about my articles. All of these guys are fairly new to the world of King Airs and asked if some of my earlier articles could be run again. Even some longtime readers of this magazine requested a “refresh” on some…
We all know the “Do’s and Don’ts” of parking brakes. Don’t set it when you pull into an FBO for any length of time, because they will likely tow your King Air to another spot. I’ve seen the entire nose gear assembly ripped out of a King Air by an over-zealous line guy. I guess…
I’ve looked at a lot of King Airs in my day, and one of the things I always check is the split ring placement. Many times, I find them correctly installed on the engine exhaust port flange. But I still see some installed on the exhaust stack flange, and this is a big “no-no.” Back…
In recent months I have been swamped with buyers considering King Airs for purchase. They have asked me to scrutinize the logbooks to figure out where the aircraft is maintenance-wise. In doing so, I encountered some really frustrating situations that could have been avoided if the log entries were clear, concise and complete. Over the…
Thinking of having your King Air painted? No doubt the first thing that comes to mind is the cost. New paint is pricey, and you’ll want to shop around. For a 90 series King Air you could see quotes ranging from $25,000 to $50,000, or more. With bigger aircraft and custom paint schemes, it only…
All King Airs come out of the factory with BFGoodrich brakes, and most come with a multi-disc brake assembly. The only exceptions were the F90s and the 100s (straight A and B models) with standard gear, which came with a single-disc brake assembly by BFGoodrich (BFG). The multi-disc brakes by BFG have excellent stopping capability, but…
During the hot summer months, nearly everyone is running their air conditioner, and it would be an awful thing for it to stop working. Black Death could be the culprit and it isn’t what you want to happen to your King Air. Black Death is a sludgy disgusting goo that gums up the air conditioning…
For many years, I maintained a B200 owned by a family business that had used the same pilot for ages. He was ex-airline and a decent stick, but every time he picked up the King Air after maintenance, he pulled the door shut, started the engines, and took off – he didn’t even check the…
I just wrote about the cabin door in the February 2017 issue of this magazine, but I thought of a few more points I could make on this topic. To summarize briefly where I left off: If a King Air has a cabin door squawk, nine times out of 10 it is going to be…