I flew King Air 90's for Mayo Aviation in Denver back in the early 80's. They ranged from serial #12, with non-reversible props to the E-90 and various other versions and conversions. We also had A and B 90's with E-90 engines which were a pain to fly because you had to use A or B power charts for climb and cruise because the airframes were not certified to the higher speeds.
The same problem existed for piston conversions, but was even worse, turbine aircraft have no yellow line so the yellow line becomes the new red line.
The straight 90 and, I think the A had engine driven superchargers for pressurization only on the right engine, others used bled-air.
The PT-6 was a great engine, the only problems I ever heard about, but never had happen,, was not properly securing the oil dipstick. Eventually we were just told to not check it and leave it to the mechanics.
What surprised me the most when I first started flying them was how easy they were to fly in any conditions, extremely stable and a lot more agile then they looked to be. Having flown the straight 90 through the 200 the F-90 was my favorite, -135 engines and a T-tail they were fast and extremely comfortable.
Jock Williams, e-mail, 16.04.2009 17:16
The King Air was the first truly "civilian" aircraft I flew professionally after retiring from the Air Force. It was also the first turbo-prop after a career of jets -and it was a pleasant surprise indeed!
Although about 350 knots slower than the planes I was more used to -it was a solid instrument platform and had excellent flight characteristics. Its system design was utilitarian and logical -and it had a great flight director/autopilot interface.
I became an instructor on the aircraft and eventually accumulate over 1000 hrs on the 3 models (BE90, BE100, and BE 200) that Transport Canada operated.
The best thing about the entire series was the magnificent PT6 engine. That was the most reliable and user friendly engine I have ever encountered -and I am sure it will be powering aircraft into the 22nd century!
Beech made no mistake when it developed the King Air! In fact -Beech has made very few mistakes...ever!
Jock Williams Yogi 13
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