Aerospace/Aviation/Air Navigation

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Expert: - 4/14/2009


Question
Hi

What would the steps be basically to fly a King Air from one airport to another , 40 nm distant?

You would have to check the weather, file a flight plan, calculate fuel needed with 20 minute reserved

Before take off, and landing you would need to run throught checklists? You would need to tune your VOR to the destination stations?

You obtain ATC clearance, take off , climb to your altitude of 10,000 ft, then descend at 1000 fr / min 10 minutes before reaching the airport. When do you contact ATC?

I am a novice flying on a PC - based flight sim only, just curious as to how it is done

Thanks  

Answer
Hello,
Thanks for your question!
40 nm is not too far between airports, so a flight plan may not be necessarily required. In the US, for example, depending on the airspace, the pilot can fly between two airports without filing any flight plan.
Typically, the fuel reserve we plan for a King Air at my company is 60 minutes rather than 20 minutes. Also, yes, you would first check the weather at both airports, if possible. Since the two airports are 40 nm apart, though, it's very likely the weather at the destination is very similar to your departure airport.
WIth our King Airs, we have checklists for before starting engines, after starting engines, before taxi, before takeoff checks, hold items(this is some quick items to check just before taking the runway), climb checklist, cruise checklist, descent checklist, before landing checklist, and after landing checklist. There are a lot of checklists we do.
As I was saying before, depending on airspace and weather, you may not need ATC clearance. However, if the weather was poor enough to be IFR (instrument flight rules) then yes, you would need to obtain ATC clearance and file a flight plan for the flight.
If flying IFR for the trip, you would be in contact with ATC for the whole trip. If flying VFR and going to a controlled airport, you would want to contact ATC prior to entering their airspace, depending on how large the airspace was around the destination airport. The answer on this varies. If you were flying to an uncontrolled airport, you would want to contact the airport and announce your inentions on the UNICOM frequency about 10 nm out fro the airport.
I hope this helps!
Laura

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Laura Laster

Expertise

I can help with questions about aviation disasters, aircraft operations especially general aviation and King Air information, aviation safety, and education questions on how to get into an aviation career. I can also answer general aviation questions as I am a commercial multi-engine pilot. I cannot answer questions about flight training or MBA schools in countries other than the USA or provide advice for non-US citizens interested in flight training. I cannot answer questions advising you what school to choose. I have no experience with aeronautical engineering so I cannot answer questions relating to engineering or schooling for aeronautical engineers. PLEASE don't ask me questions about any kind of engineering because it is outside my area of expertise, and I will NOT answer your question. I also cannot help you to choose a master's program for study as I do not have a master's degree in aviation. I cannot help with MBA advice.

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I have been studying aviation disasters through doing my own research and a lot of reading since I was 13 or 14 years old. I am very interested in aviation safety and also am a commercial, multi-engine pilot. I am a dispatch manager at a private university working in their flight training department. I also have worked as an operations mamager at a small charter airline and was involved in getting the airline certificated under Part 121 rules. I was formerly a flight operations division manager for a company operating a large fleet of King Air aircraft (60) and so I have some business aviation experience as well as having flight instructed for one year after college. My operations manager job frequently involved coordinating international trips for aerial survey clients and hiring qualified pilots to fly aerial survey missions.

Education/Credentials
Bachelor of Science, Aeronautical Science with Flight Management Concentration: LeTourneau University (2004) :: Dispatch Certificate: Sheffield School of Aeronautics (2010) :: Commercial Pilot: Single and Multi Engine Land, Instrument Rating :: Flight Instructor: Single, Multi and Instrument :: Ground Instructor: Basic and Advanced

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