I have been flying a B200 for some time now. I have an opportunity to fly an older 200 for someone occasionally.
Can anyone tell me the differences in speeds and fuel burns for flight planning purposes (or better yet, a flightplan.com profile), and any other operating differences I should be aware of.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Marc
I’ve got several thousand hours in various KingAirs, and I think you’ll find the differences negligable. Block speeds of about 270 kts and the same fuel burn as a B200 should work fine.
Thanks for the reply. I finally got to fly in the 200 today with the owner. He needed a checkout, and I was surprised at how similar it was to the B200.
What a difference, though, in the cockpit between the 1975 200 and the 2000 B200 I usually fly. Night and day, technologywise.
Yep, You can fly any 200 and the feel is the same. The only thing that really affects the flight characteristics are 3 blade vs. 4 blade props. And that is only noticeable during the roundout and flare. ( 3 blades tend to float more.)
If you ever get to fly a Proline21 airplane, you’re head’s gonna explode.
Funny you should mention the Proline 21. I was just approved as the backup pilot for a company that just took delivery of a 2004 B200 with the Proline 21.
Two weeks ago, after taking my first look at the 1976 200 at BKL, I drove to CLE to see the 2004 B200. Talk about technology shock going from one cockpit to the other!!!
I also appreciate your comments about the 3 blade vs. 4 blade. I flew yesterday into a 4300 ft. strip, and I thought we floated for longer than usual. Now I know why.
Thanks for your comments.
Marc
4300ft!? Oh my, gee, how’d you even make it? 
We routinely go into Fisher’s Island in the PC12. It’s 2300ft, sometimes we have to use the shorter runway which is less than 1800ft.
I’m just busting your stones, it just sounds funny. A 4300ft “strip” is a walk in the park.
we now return to your regularly scheduled programming
Marc,
Keep in mind that there is a limitation against flying an ILS at 1700 RPM with 3-bladed props (I think – if this doesn’t sound familiar, you better look it up.).
Hi Wolpjame:
I am not aware of the limitation you are referrig to.
Can you give me some more info?
Thanks,
Marc
Marc,
I apologize, it is not a limitation.
From the CAE Simuflite Pilot Training Manual: “CAUTION: Operation of the three-bladed propeller during approach in the 1750 to 1850 RPM range should be avoided as it may cause ILS interference.”
Kind of like slipping a Cessna with flaps…
I’ll have to check my books, but I believe that the same caution applies to the 4 bladed prop on the B200.
I believe the limitation applies to the 4 blade also, something to do with the (prop rpm x # of blades) producing a harmonic that is the same as the ILS freqs. There is a possibility of false indications. Haven’t been active in a 200 in a couple years, but that what I recall.
Wouldn’t you normally push the prop levers forward by the time you are on an ILS approach? What is prop rpm if you fire wall them? 1900-2000?
I find this all interesting, in the PC12 the prop speed is governed at 1700 rpm at all times in flight, from full forward to idle thrust. It’s 1000 rpm in ground idle. There is no prop lever.
Reminiscent of my youth when certain commercial propellor aircraft had the same effect on RF controlled garage door openers and TVs equipped with remotes.
Can you feather it during flight? or on the ground for that matter?
Yes, the CutOff/Feather lever electrically feathers the prop on shutdown, or if necessary after an engine failure.
Interesting. What if you descend fast or need to slow down? Does the PC-12 have speed brakes or are the flaps and gear enough?
I don’t understand… why would you want to feather if you want to slow down? Or are you saying you like the ability to increase the prop rpm when slowing down, that I uderstand. We don’t have speed brakes, pulling the torque back slows us down very well. The prop speed stays at 1700 rpm. When we’re going in to a high density airport and ATC asks us to keep the speed up I can be doing 220 until halfway down the ILS (visually), drop the torque, slow to 177 for the gear, 163 for flaps 15, and once that happens you actually have to start adding a lot of power to keep it up, the fat wing and gigantic flaps really do the job nicely.
Southwest always gets their panties in a twist if they’re behind us when we’re coming back into MHT. That is until ATC tells them we’re doing 40 knots faster than they are.
That’s interesting and impressive about the PC-12 capability. I didn’t know they had fat wings.
Can a King Air pilot answer this: If you want to slow down does low torque and high prop RPM do the trick in a King Air? I guess what I’m asking does this create drag as opposed to feathering which would not create thrust?
You don’t need to be a king air pilot to answer that.
You never feather a propeller to slow down. Increasing prop speed on any airplane adds drag, basically it creates a larger surface area against the relative wind. (a large flat disk has more drag than 2, or 3, or 4 paddles.)
That’s the extreme, talking about actually feathering.
Slowing the prop speed works more or less the same way. Turboprops are different than pistons with constant speed props. Don’t forget the turbine is spinning at something like 30,000 rpm, while the prop is spinning somewhere between 1600 and 2000 rpm. In a piston the prop speed equals the engine speed, so it’s hard to compare the two when talking about the principles behind the operation.
Think of it like engine braking in a vehicle. In a low gear, with the engine idling (high prop speed, low torque) slows you down a lot faster than putting the vehicle in neutral (slow prop speed or feathering).