Beechcraft King Air 350ER Is Long Range and Lengthy Loitering Times, up to 2,650 Nm Or 12 Hours

The core mission of the Beechcraft King Air 350ER is long range and lengthy loitering times, up to 2,650 nm or 12 hours.

Beechcraft King Air 350ER

Longer-legged to sample the 350ER’s low- The main landing gear struts speed and high-speed per- are stronger versions with model is flexible formance and how easy this wheels, tires and brakes from the sizable airplane is to fly. Flying heavier Beech 1900D airliner. and capable to the NBAA show in a Pratt To accommodate the bigger & Whitney Canada PT6-pow- wheels in the retracted position, by Matt Thurber ered airplane was a bonus, mak- the 350ER’s main landing gear ing us feel like part of the 50th doors are shorter and the wheels anniversary celebrations for the protrude into the breeze. A use- The King Air 350i is now widely used turboprop. ful feature on the 350 models THURBER MATT Beechcraft’s biggest airplane, Beechcraft has built more is brake de-icing, which ports A Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 flight deck fills the panel on the King Air 350i and ER. but the 350ER version takes the than 900 King Air 350s. The bleed air onto tubes surround- Worldwide weather data is delivered via the Iridium-based Collins GWX-5000. turboprop twin a few steps fur- extended-range 350ER was cer- ing the brake discs. “It’ll melt go anywhere in the world with- the Hawaii-California mission. ther, adding enough extra fuel tified in 2007, and Beechcraft snow around the tires,” said out [fitting interior tanks].” With a maximum takeoff to stay aloft for up to 12 hours delivered about 120 of that ver- Scott, and can be used with the The 350 has the same wing weight of 16,500 pounds (1,500 in loiter mode or power along at sion by the end of last year, wheels up or down. as the B200T, but the 53-gal- more than the 350i), the 350ER more than 260 knots for nearly according to Hubble. lon tip tanks on the B200T add has a basic operating weight 2,300 nm, all while carrying one The 350ER has a few dis- Added Fuel Capacity drag whether or not they’re car- with one pilot of 9,520 pounds pilot and six passengers and with tinguishing characteristics that But the most visible differ- rying fuel. “We were looking for when equipped with the “slick” NBAA IFR reserves. Maximum sharp-eyed pilots can use to tell ence is on top of the nacelles. a lower-drag place to put fuel,” interior or 10,385 pounds typi- range is as far as 2,650 nm. the difference between the ER Where wing lockers usually sit, he explained, “and we wanted cally equipped. When the air- Beechcraft senior sales dem- and the standard 350i. Small bulbous fuel tanks are mounted, more fuel and the benefit of craft (typically equipped) is onstration pilot Luke Scott and protuberances on the upper rud- giving the nacelle the appear- the winglets. The next logical carrying max fuel, payload is senior product marketing man- der add to engine-out control ance of being inflated to hold place was aft of the engines.” 1,023 pounds. The slick interior ager Roger Hubble made a stop effectiveness with no increase in more stuff. The engineers considered com- is the smooth-floored mission- at Santa Monica Airport on rudder area. The 350i has these The nacelle tanks are just two posite tanks, especially for the ready interior without any cabi- October 16 so I could fly the bulges, too, but they are smaller of the six tanks in the 350ER, ease of incorporating com- nets or seats, easily convertible to company King Air 350ER in than those on the 350ER. “It and each holds 118 gallons pound curves, but ultimately a dual-stretcher air-ambulance special-mission configuration tricks the rudder into thinking of jet-A. Total fuel capacity is selected metal for the simpler interior or other configurations. to Henderson Executive Air- the surface is longer,” Scott said, 5,192 pounds or 775 gallons, lightning-strike protection. In With the slick interior, payload port near Las Vegas for the 2013 although the 350ER’s rudder and the rest of the fuel fits into any case, if just 50 gallons per is 1,888 pounds. The slick inte- NBAA Convention. actually is slightly longer and its four wing tanks. “The ultimate side were needed, each wing rior’s cockpit center pedestal is While it was only a 58-minute trim tab moves farther than that objective,” Hubble said, “was locker could accommodate that the standard 17-inch unit, but flight for the big King Air, the of the 350i so both have similar to make the California-Hawaii amount, but an extra 100 gal- this ER featured the extended trip afforded the opportunity handling characteristics. run. If we can make that, we can lons wouldn’t help much with Continues on page 44 u

Pg-42-44_v5.indd 1 12/19/13 12:28 PM Beechcraft King Air 350ER special-mission 350ER dem- span about half of the length onstrator was equipped with a of each wing, are precise and uContinued from page 42 mockup control station and the responsive. The cable-tension reg- 24-inch pedestal, which is avail- optional belted forward-facing ulators built into the flight con- able to house additional mis- lavatory (the 350i has a side-fac- trols help keep cables tight, which sion equipment controls that are ing lav). With the lav, baggage adds to the crisp feel. available for the flight crew. capacity in the rear cabin is 350 We climbed to 21,000 for the The fuel capacity beyond that pounds, but without the lav that short flight to Henderson. At of the 350i enables some long grows to 550 pounds. In the cruise altitude, Scott demon- trips in the 350ER. Maximum 350ER slick interior, up to 13 strated the max endurance con- range of almost 2,580 nm with a seats can be installed in high- figuration, and we slowed down, 45-minute reserve is obtained at density configuration, which with torque set to about 30 per- 33,000 feet and max-range power, includes the belted lav, a fold- cent and approach flaps. The which delivers a true airspeed of ing chair and 11 lightweight airspeed settled on 120 indicated 242 knots. On a trip from Calgary (26-pound) Aviation Fabrica- or 175 true and fuel flow was (Canada) with two pilots and six tors seats (half the weight of the about 180 pph per engine. With THURBER MATT passengers and Boeing 85-per- executive seats). Vapor-cycle air- our remaining fuel of 2,230 This mockup control station demonstrates the space available in the King Air 350ER. To cent-probability winds, maxi- conditioning by Keith Products pounds, we could have flown for feed the electrical needs of special missions equipment, Beechcraft offers an optional 400-amp starter-generator, which eliminates the need to install a separate alternator. mum NBAA IFR range (100-nm delivers 150 percent more cool- another five hours 45 minutes. alternate) for the 350ER is 2,130 ing than the previous system, With full fuel we could stay aloft U.S., but it was handy to be able Waas-LPV GPS receivers, Tcas- nm–618 nm more than the 1,512 which on earlier 300/350s was for 12 hours 27 minutes, accord- to check local Metars and Tafs. 4000 Tcas II and ACSS Taws+. nm the 350i can muster under the retained from the King Air 200. ing to Scott, a good reason why A neat feature of the Rockwell Backup instrumentation is pro- same circumstances. The new system has dual climate Beechcraft includes a pilot relief Collins TWR-850 turbulence- vided by an L-3 GH-3100 elec- The modifications for the zones for the cabin and cockpit. tube in the 350ER cockpit. detecting Doppler radar is that tronic standby instrument system higher mtow and the bulbous With the power pushed up each pilot can control range, mounted to the right of the MFD, nacelle fuel tanks do incur some Taxi and Takeoff to 85 percent torque, fuel flow mode and tilt. This King Air also just above the RTU-4200 com/ penalty: at 24,000 feet the 350ER’s The Atlantic Aviation ramp at climbed to 400 pph per engine has the optional enhanced-vision nav tuning unit. With its long- high-speed cruise at mid-weight is Santa Monica Airport is always and speed to 216 kias/302 ktas system, with the Max-Viz EVS- range capabilities, this 350ER is nine knots slower than the 350i’s tightly packed with business jets at ISA +10 degrees C. 1500 IR camera mounted on the equipped with a single HF radio, 312 ktas. (The 350i is equipped and turboprops, but taxiing the Scott demonstrated some fea- top of the nose. EVS imagery which is also an option. To meet with the flatter nacelle wing bag- big 350ER with its 58-foot wing- tures of the King Air’s Rockwell appears on the center MFD. the upcoming 2020 mandate in gage lockers.) Fuel flow is 764 pph span between the parked aircraft Collins Pro Line 21 flight deck, the U.S. Beechcraft is working for the 350ER, slightly less than feels like moving a smaller air- such as the datalink weather via Search Patterns with Rockwell Collins on ADS-B the 350i’s 773 pph. Long-range plane. We carried 2,500 pounds the Iridium-based Collins GWX- For search-and-rescue oper- upgrades. Also optional is Air- cruise speed at 33,000 feet is close of fuel and were loaded to about 5000, which displays worldwide ations, the Pro Line 21 flight cell’s Gogo Biz air-to-ground to identical, 237 and 238 ktas for 13,500 pounds. The 350ER, Universal Weather & Aviation management computer is pro- Internet access and voice calling the 350i and 350ER, respectively, certified in the Part 23 Com- UVdatalink information. (Sir- grammed with search patterns, system. although the ER burns 402 pph, muter category, takes off more iusXM WX for the continen- such as a ladder search, and the For the added electrical needs 40 more than the 350i. like a jet, with similar require- tal U.S. is an option.) Because FGC-3000 automatic flight guid- of special-mission equipment, Both models are certified to ments for takeoff field length of the clear weather in the West- ance system will automatically fly Beechcraft offers an optional a maximum altitude of 35,000 and speeds. V1 was 98, Vr 101 ern U.S., we had to zoom out the desired pattern. This 350ER’s starter-generator, which pro- feet, but the heavier 350ER has and V2 109 knots. Takeoff field some distance to find graphi- standard equipment includes vides filtered power to the cabin. an all-engine service ceiling of length with approach flaps set cal Nexrad images in the central dual Collins FMS-3000s, Previously, some special-mission 33,000 feet, 2,000 feet less than was about 3,800 feet. After I operators modified the 350 with the 350i, and engine-out service pushed the throttles forward so a belt-driven 100-amp alterna- ceiling of 17,100, compared with the torque needles pointed to the Beechcraft King Air 350ER tor that fed the cabin directly the 350i’s 21,500 feet. The 6.6- nine o’clock position, Scott did Specifications and Performance and wasn’t filtered through the psi pressure differential main- the fine-tuning to set maximum Price (“slick” interior) $8.35 million airplane’s batteries. tains a sea-level cabin to 15,200 torque on the 1,050-shp PT6A- The weather was CAVU as Engines (2) Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-60A, 1,050 shp each feet and cabin altitude climbs to 60A engines, and the King Air we flew over the massive Bright- 8,200 feet at 30,000 feet. At the surged forward then lifted quickly Passengers (high-capacity seating) 2 crew + 13 pax Source solar thermal electric- Range 35,000-foot max certified alti- skyward and steeply away from 2,586 nm at 238 ktas ity generating plant near the tude, cabin altitude is just above the noise-sensitive neighbors sur- (w/NBAA reserves, 100-nm alternate) California-Nevada border and 10,000 feet. rounding the airport. High-speed cruise 303 ktas descended toward Henderson in The slick cabin makes I hand-flew the King Air to Long-range cruise speed 238 ktas the turbulence-free air. it easy to swap out inte- 14,000 feet and found the han- Basic operating weight 9,520 lbs The approach flaps exten- rior components, depending dling straightforward and com- sion speed is 202 knots and the Fuel capacity 5,192 lbs on the mission. Beechcraft’s fortable. The long ailerons, which landing gear can go down at 182 Max payload w/full fuel 1,888 lbs knots. Our landing weight was Ceiling (certified) 35,000 ft 12,400 pounds and Vref 104 Cabin altitude at ceiling 10,000 ft kias. The big King Air is eas- ier to land if trimmed correctly, Max takeoff weight 16,500 lbs but I didn’t take as much advan- Takeoff field length at mtow 4,473 ft tage of the trim as I should have (sea level, standard) and made myself work harder Landing distance 2,981 ft to land smoothly on Hender- Length 46.7 ft son’s 35L. Wingspan 57.9 ft The 350’s propellers are equipped with flight idle pitch Height 14.3 ft stops. “This makes landing eas- Volume (includes lav and baggage area): 358 cu ft ier,” Scott said, “more like a Width: 4.5 ft jet.” After landing, the propel- Cabin Height: 4.75 ft lers shift into ground idle mode

Length (seating area): 19.5 ft when the weight-on-wheels switch activates, then a little bit Baggage capacity 55.3 cu ft/550 lbs

MATT THURBER MATT of prop reverse brings the King FAA certification (basis, date) 2007 (FAR Part 23, Commuter category) Ready for departure from Atlantic Aviation at Santa Monica Airport, the Special Air quickly to a stop with plenty Missions King Air 350ER’s slightly bulbous nacelle fuel tanks are clearly visible. Number built (through 10/31/13) 110 of runway remaining. o

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