Page 8 - Volume 17 Number 4

was easier to handle in the airplane than in the simulator, Diekroeger said, because of the SimCom practice. He added, “To maintain the continuity of our simulator training, we routinely request the same instructor, Bob Baumgartner, for all of our pilot training. After initial training, a new hire pilot will have a minimum of 10 days of initial operating experience (IOE) training. During the IOE, the pilot will travel at least once to each company destination. This serves to not only familiarize the pilot with the aircraft and flying environment, but also the satellite clinic locations.”All four C90A’s are painted exactly alike; Cimarron Aircraft at El Reno, Oklahoma (RQO) does a fine job of refinishing the airplanes, Diekroeger states. Phase check maintenance is performed at Hawkeye Aviation in Denver, on Rocky Mountain Metro airport (BJC). The Air Doc fleet averages about one phase check per year. For engine work, Diekroeger cites outstanding service from Vector Aerospace, which takes care of Air Doc’s overhauls and hot sections in Summerside, P.E.I., Canada. He says, “Phil Reinpold, Regional Sales and Service Manager, has proven to be an excellent resource for our PT6A engines.” AAR Propellers at Oklahoma City (OKC) does the propeller overhauls.The first airplane acquired, a 1985 model, was always outperformed by the rest of the King Airs, so it was given a Blackhawk upgrade, replacing the PT6A-21 engines with -135 versions and adding dual aft- body strakes, bringing it more in line with the other aircraft. There are no plans at this time to modify the other C90A’s, because the short stage lengths don’t justify it.The older instrument panels are being upgraded to Garmin G600- style glass configuration; two airplanes are already flying with the Garmin equipment. A GTN650 was6 • TWIN & TURBINEinstalled to complement the existing terrain-equipped GNS530W. The upgraded aircraft are ADS-B “Out” compliant and have XM satellite datalink capability. Natrona Avionics at Casper, Wyoming (CPR) handles the avionics installations for Air Doc, Inc.Diekroeger says, “We operate the four-aircraft fleet about 900 hours annually. This equates into approximately 1,500 flights per year, with less than 1% cancelled due to weather conditions. As for mechanical cancellations, only two clinics have been canceled in the last six years due to a mechanical problem. Due to our route system, we can usually reroute aircraft to accommodate any schedule interruption due to weather or mechanical issues.“The company has its own ground transportation vehicles at nearly all of its satellite clinics. Captain John King is responsible for tracking the maintenance requirements of the company’s vehicles and for ensuring that alternate ground transportationis available should a problem arise with a company vehicle. Captain Vince Hedrick maintains the databases for the Garmin GNS530 WAAS-enabled units in each of the King Airs. Captain Cranleigh Wilkinson is Air Doc’s liaison with Jeppesen and keeps us apprised of the latest technical offerings.“Each month, I will base the flight schedules on the clinic schedules. Flight schedules are prepared by mid-month for the following month. Overnights and weekend assignments are rare. Flights originate from Laramie and usually depart between 6:30 and 7:00 AM with return flights in the late afternoon or early evening. Many days involve flying to a single satellite clinic and returning to Laramie at the end of the day. Other days may include multiple legs dropping off and picking up company personnel at several clinic locations.“Maintenance tracking is done through Flightdocs. I’ll update the aircraft flight times in FlightdocsAPRIL 2013