Flying the Cessna 208 Caravan with Kris. The Caravan had just come out of it’s yearly annual inspection in Aurora, Illinois and she came along for the adventure. We drove up from St Louis and after paying for the inspection and doing a very thorough preflight we started the airplane and took off for St Louis. Unfortunately, during part of the trip the low level turbulence was really bad and she almost got sick. She toughed it out and we continued on the flight. We were in a race to beat thunderstorms that were quickly approaching the Spirit of Saint Louis airport from the west. This video includes the ATC radio communications and the cockpit view of the landing.
Tag Archives: turboprop
Flying the Cessna 208 to Aurora, Illinois
This trip in the Cessna Caravan starts at the Spirit of Saint Louis Airport with a short hop to the St, Louis Downtown airport. Then a quick turn and flying on to the Chicago/Aurora Municipal Airport. The landing at Aurora includes the Live ATC radio communications and the pilot cockpit view.
The Cessna Caravan is a large single engine turboprop that only requires one pilot. It’s a fun easy to fly airplane that can carry a large load and cruises at 170 kts. It’s also a great performer on short and unimproved landing strips.
King Air 350 Takeoff From Eagle County Regional Airport
Gypsum Four Departure Eagle County Regional Airport
A Beechcraft King Air 350 takeoff on runway 25 at Eagle County Regional Airport (EGE), Colorado. Also known as the Eagle/Vail airport it’s ranked number eight on the History Channel’s show Most Extreme Airports. The factors that placed Eagle on this list are a higher elevation of 6,540 feet, steeply rising mountainous terrain on all sides, downhill sloping runway, unpredictable weather and challenging approach and departure procedures. All of these factors make Eagle a very challenging airport for both experienced and novice aviators. On a cold clear day Eagle is a joy to fly into, the sweeping mountain vistas are breathtaking. Unfortunately, add a little weather or loose an engine on a hot day and this airport is suddenly not the fun lunch stop you planned on. Due to the mountains the approaches have what at first seem like fairly high minimums of 3 miles and 1,790 feet. But don’t forget if a snow squall suddenly blooms over the mountain, the runway can disappear in an instant. Ask yourself what if I lose an engine after doing a missed approach or on the departure procedure. Can my aircraft maintain the required 13% climb gradient required to climb to a safe altitude. Mountain flying can be greatly rewarding, just be sure you check your aircraft’s single engine climb performance or get some instruction in mountain flying before flying into your first mountain airport.
Beechcraft King Air 350 Cockpit View of Night Landing
The cockpit view of a King Air 350 Night landing and flight over south St. Louis. Half way through the video we pass over a house fire. In the cockpit you can see the night lighting of the instrument panel and in the center of the panel is a Garmin GNS 530W combined GPS,Nav, Comm integrated avionics unit . The Garmin is great for situational awareness. It gives the pilot a map view with his course and weather super imposed on top as well as your normal navigation and communications functions
King Air 350 Landing at the Des Moines Airport
Video of a Beechcraft King Air 350 landing at the Des Moines International Airport (DSM). Included in the video are up close views of the cockpit with views of both the pilot and copilot sub panels, the fuel panel, and the throttle quadrant. The BE350 is a pressurized cabin class twin turboprop. It can land at 95 % of US airports and can carry 8 to 11 passengers and up to 550 pounds of luggage in its large cargo area. It cruises at 360 mph, has a 1,800 mile range, and It’s max service ceiling is 35,000 ft. It can be flown single pilot if the pilot has a single pilot 350 type or as a crew. The 350 is a joy to fly and a heavy lifter for its size. This is one airplane that you can fill all the seats and top the fuel tanks with weight to spare. The basic operating weight of this aircraft is 9,580 lbs, max fuel is 3,611 lbs and Max ramp weight is 15,100 lbs. That leaves an available payload of 1,909 lbs.
king Air 350 Instrument Panel
The Beechcraft Super King Air 350 is a large twin engine turboprop capable of comfortably carrying 8 to 12 passengers. Two Pratt and Whitney PT6A-60A 1,050 shp turbo prop engines give this popular corporate aircraft has the ability to operate out of short runways with heavy loads and fly 1700 nm at 310 kts. The panel is from an early serial number aircraft with analog flight instruments and a Garmin 500 installed. For more info, specs and limitations on the KA 350.