Need King Air info

Ive been doing a series of interviews for a corporate job, and so far everything went well, however, he wants to see me do a couple approaches in the King Air 90 within the next week. I got 1000 TT, and 140 Multi (no multi in the last year), And that was all in the Seminole. I HAVE NO CLUE HOW TO FLY A KING AIR. Is there anyplace I can read the POH online, or is there any pilots here that can give me quick advice on how to transition from a 172 to a turbine within days? He gave me a beech 1900 maintenance book that's about 8 inches thick and told me to study that since he said the systems are mostly the same, however this is a maintenance book and is hard to read and impossible to have it done in a week.

The last person to fly with this guy did NOT make it through, and he had loads more experience then me.


Is this the right forum btw?
Thanks

If he wants you to do some approaches and fly the airplane ask if you can sit in for a couple hours and learn where all the switches are. I've never touched a 90 but the 200 I used to fly was very flow friendly. Meaning if you were landing you flipped one switch then the next switch and so on in a nice logical flow each time. I had 22 hours Seminole time when I went to Flight Safety on the 200 and it was tough but not impossible to fly single pilot but I had the luxury of having been able to sit in the airplane prior to getting hosed in the sim.



Congrats on the opportunity to fly a Beech, the BE20 and A36 are two of the finest flying aircraft I've ever flown.

Don't worry too much about the flight. The King Air 90 is very stable and easy to fly. I don't have seminole experience, but I imagine it will feel quite a bit heavier than the Nole. It likes to get nose heavy as you slow for landing, so anticipate it.

He shouldn't expect you to know where every switch is located. I wish I could tell you where to get your hands on a better training manual than a 1900 Maint. manual, but maybe someone on here can help you out in that regard.

Good luck.

I actually found the C90 to be easier to fly than a Seminole. I pretty much landed it the first time by myself with no help from the instructor. It's a very docile plane. It is true that it tends to get quite heavy in the flare, but it has a nice big trim wheel to help you out.

It's been a couple months since I've flown the C90, but you'll have no trouble transitioning to turbine. Once the engines are running it's actually pretty easy from there. One hint though: be careful not to get too low on the power when you come down to flare. If you need to add power, it takes a second to respond unlike a piston plane. I've always carried about 400-500 lbs. of torque all the way to the flare in the C90, and that seems to work just about right. Also, be careful bringing the power levers all the way to full idle in the flare. If you're a bit high this will cause you to drop fairly rapidly.

Unfortunately, I've never sat left seat, so most of the flows have been done by the left seat pilot I've been with. The picture from FlyOrDie looks like a straight C90 and not a C90A since the gear lever is on the co-pilots side. That's been changed in the C90A and newer.

That's about all I can give you since I only have about 50 hours of right seat time in a C90 and C90A. It's really not that bad of a transition, and I'm sure you'll do fine.

One thing to make landing easier:

With 500 ft pounds of torque with approach flaps and gear down, at 500' AGL and on glide-slope, if you go to full flaps, you'll cross the fence at blue line, which is about 10 knots above Vref, which is about perfect. Once you cross the fence, just slowly start working power back and also start pulling back on the yoke. Should give you a descent landing.

During the interview, they should help you with power settings etc. to make the thing work. I'd be very surprised if they expected you to come in and fly to ATP standards. They're probably looking to see if you can keep the airplane right-side up and do it smoothly.

You might give this link a try if you're still looking for some info.....
https://www.cnatra.navy.mil/pubs/folder5/T44A_TC12/P-553.pdf

Thanks guys, and wow that cockpit dont look to much different then a Seminole.

Ofo, Thanks for that link, that's exactly what I was looking for. But I see that is for a T44? what exactly is that? and is it much different then a King 90?

T44 is the military version of a King Air 90.

Here's what the cockpit of a "newer" C90B looks like:



Not a lot of differences, but some.

Great link Ofo, Thanks for putting it up!:bandit:

I've got about 100 hrs in the C90 and E90. Both are straight forward, nice airplanes to fly.

You will be setting your power with torque. At first it will feel a little weird setting power, as there isn't a direct real seat of the pants feeling compared to a piston (it's very smooth), and there's the spool up time too. You set power with the torque gauges. The engines probably aren't rigged perfectly, so you may have to move the levers around a little bit to keep the torque matched.

Takeoff:
Auto Feather, Auto Ignition, Lights, Strobes, Transponder on, Wx radar on (if applicable, probably not in your case), and bleed valves open (very important!!). Line up on the runway, hold brakes, set and match torques to 600 lb. Release brakes and bring torques up just short of redline (don't go all the way, otherwise the engines will overtorque one you get up in the air). Drag a a very SLIGHT amount of brakes for directional control until you get your speed up. Rotate at 90 kts, positive rate, landing/taxi lights off, gear up. Pitch 7 degrees up for climbout. Set props (2000 RPM in our C90) - be very careful the engines don't over torque when doing this (e.g. don't start pulling the props back with the torques at redline - ever!). Through 1,000 ft AGL, Auto feather off.

Climb:
As you climb, you will have to keep adding torque. Just like a piston engine loses manifold pressure with alt, so does a turbine. You keep adding torque to hold it below redline. Limiting factors are N1 (keep it under 100%) and ITT. You won't have to worry about these limits until you get pretty high up (near the FL200 at the earliest, at least with our Blackhawk conversion). Climbing through 10,000 ft, recognition lights off, check cabin pressurization.

Level off:
Bring the torques back about 150 lb from redline. Bring the props back to 1900 RPM, then you can bring torque just under redline. Make sure it doesn't overtorque as you speed up. The airplane will really start to climb, so you may even want to level off 100 ft below your target alt. Be ready to trim. Our airplane will true out at around 256 kt if we're in the teens. Again, this is with the blackhawk conversion so your's could be different.

Descent:
Set pressurization, pitch the nose down, and bring the power back to 1,200 lbs or so. Usually I'll descend around 1,000 fpm, and will stay a few kts below the barber pole. I'll adjust power as necessary. Watch the torques, as you'll have to pull them back several times during the descent. As with props, the engines start making more power down low. Recognition lights on below 10,000 ft.

Terminal area:
Don't forget about the speed limits in Class C/D airports. Not something you really had to deal with before in the seminole ! When you get around 8-10 mi out, start bringing power back. If the guy lets you, bring it all the way back to 800 lb at first just so that things aren't happening too quickly.

Initial approach:
Approach flaps on downwind or extended base. In our C90 you have to be below 184 kias for appch flaps, which you should be at anyway if you're in the pattern. These airplanes REALLY want to pop up when you put the appch flaps out. If you do not get on top of this immediatly with some fwd trim, you will pop up 100-200 ft easily. So just be ready for that.

Depending upon how I've entered the pattern, I like to put the gear down on downwind abeam my landing spot, or on base. Remember to put the lights on and auto feather arm.

Final:
I like to fly final around 140 kts until I get on short final. Then I start bringing the power back to hold 120, and on short, short final start slowing it up. Across the threshold, power to idle. It'll probably feel a little nose heavy when you bring the power back, so just hold the nose up a little. This plane is very nice to land, so don't worry you'll pick up the sight picture pretty quick. Don't ever bring the power below 400 lbs on final. It will drop like a rock and it takes too long to get the engines spooled back up when they are that low (dangerous!).

Touchdown:
Props forward, power levers up over the gate and back for reverse. You'll be amazed how quickly you slow down (we operate ours in fields less than 3200 feet all the time, with plenty of room to spare).

For an ILS:
When the GS is 2 dots above, appch flaps. When the GS is 1.5 dots above, gear down.

Engine outs:
Don't go all crazy like we were all trained on the pistons. This airplane has PLENTY of power to easily climb high and fast on one engine - even at takeoff. So just fly the plane first and maintain control - then Identify, Verify, and Feather. The shutdown procedure is a little more complicated than a piston, so refer to the checklist.

Miscellaneous:
This airplane needs a lot of trim. It flys great, but you have to use the trim! Also, the props aren't counter-rotating so don't forget your right rudder in the climb, particularly if you're climing out pretty steep. Level turns pretty much don't need any rudder.

Good luck, and try not to be too intimidated. These are AWESOME flying airplanes and very forgiving.

No problem....glad the information was of use. I'd have answered sooner, but Easter weekend with the in-laws called.