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Review: Aeroworx Beechcraft B200 Super
King Air
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The throttle quadrant with movable
trim, throttles, prop controls, condition levers, and flap
selector:
The left side fuel management panel
with boost switches, aux-transfer switches, fuel cross-feed,
firewall shutoff valves and aux vs. main tank quantity selectors
and indicators:
This review isn't intended to be an
exhaustive tutorial on how to fly the King Air B200, so I
won't go through all of the normal operation procedures for
flying the aircraft, but I will say that the systems functionality
from startup to shutdown are ultra realistic in the Aeroworx
B200. Normal start procedures require several switch and lever
movements in a relatively rapid sequence so you would be well
advised to read the thorough POH to get the most out of this
add-on.
The pilot-side (left) sub-panel featuring
the starting switches, lights, ice protection, auto-feather
and a multitude of other functional (and required!) switches:
Be careful starting the engines! If
you hot start them there will be consequences! As a pilot
flying turbine equipment on a day-to-day basis I'm very aware
that engine temperature has a direct effect on operating costs.
Maximum starting ITT is 1000 degrees for 5 seconds and our
standard operating procedures limits ITT in normal flight
regimes to 750 degrees. A new engine can easily cost over
$200,000 each, so give them lots of TLC.
The copilot's sub-panel contains the
environmental controls including pressurization and temperature
controls as well as important pneumatic and suction gauges:
The overhead panel contains lighting
rheostats, windshield wiper controls, volt/load meters and
the A/C volts/frequency gauge:
All appropriate caution lights are
modeled on the caution panel. A master caution light flashing
on the eyebrow panel should direct your attention to the caution
/ advisory panel. This panel will alert you to some abnormal
items that aren't necessarily immediate action items, but
things that you should know about (such as a generator off-line
or props not forward for landing):
My first engine start in the Aeroworx
B200 was just like the real thing (I actually started to wonder
if I was going to get paid for this flight!). Turning the
ignition switch on (after fully completing the pre-start checklists:
36 items!) and hearing the "tick-tick" of
the igniters was music to my ears. At 12% N1 I push the condition
lever forward and hear the familiar "whoosh" of
the engine lighting off as I keep diligently monitoring the
engine gauges for normal indications. Usually I'm glancing
back and forth between ITT, fuel-flow, oil-pressure and N1.
Normal engine start checklist from
the Aeroworx B200 POH:

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