Page 10 - Twin and Turbine December 16

Cessnas, lifts up to secure the rudder when parked; if not released, up elevator travel disconnects the lock.
Given the chest-high cabin floor, the obvious question is “how do you get in?” The Caravan opens up like a utility knife kit; passengers climb aboard via a two-piece three-step airstair on the aft right side of the fuselage, cargo is loaded through a huge 50-inch opening on the left side, the lower door hinged to fold flat for uninhibited access, and two crew doors up front allow pilots to enter even with the cabin stuffed full. Agility is a prerequisite; boarding ladders fold down to facilitate the ascent. Rain gutters are installed above all the doors.
Once Jon and I were ensconced, I raised my gangplank (er, ladder) to secure the door. The cockpit, like everything else about the airplane, is big; the three G1000 displays hardly make a dent in the panel space and there’s enough room to slip aft between the seats. Looking behind, the double-club seating arrangement in our aircraft was only one of the possible interior arrangements (only the two crew seats are standard equipment). U.S. Part 23 regulations only permit nine passenger seats, but up to fourteen total seats are often ordered by export customers, utilizing an aft bench.
The spacious cockpit has a waterfall of circuit breakers on the left sidewall and panel, with starting and electrical switches nearby. The overhead is used only for fuel valves, loadmeters and rheostats, oxygen controls and a control lever for the standby flap motor, in case the primary motor goes out. The center pedestal has trim wheels, the flap switch, throttle, prop and condition levers, and a manual fuel control lever for emergency operation—everything except a landing gear handle.
Reliable mechanical standby instruments are arrayed above the power quadrant. Panel vents are fed by air inlets on the forward fuselage, while the cabin’s overhead system is supplied by vents at the top of the wing struts. The big single exhaust diverts soot and gases away from the cabin.
The Garmin G1000 flight deck, with the GFC-700 autopilot, remains Textron’s choice for the Caravan,
8 • TWIN & TURBINE
given the back-country utility mission, where bulletproof reliability is paramount. Dual AHRS (attitude and heading reference system) and air data computers are installed, and we had terrain, traffic and Safe Taxi available, along with dual audio panels to avoid reaching across.
Firing up is typical PT6A procedure, except the generator comes on line automatically when the starter is turned off. Fuel boost on, we lifted the start toggle and observed 12% Ng before going to low idle with the condition lever. After accelerating to 52% Ng the starter was moved to off and avionics came on. Moving out of the ramp requires attention to the plane’s size, even if it’s a high-wing single. The big engine powered us along in taxi with little urging, and some restraint from Beta, or even reverse, was helpful. There’s a lot of throw in the hefty rudder pedals; the Caravan can swing around in under 33 feet, if persuaded.
Pretakeoff checks included a test of the overspeed governor at 1,750 prop rpm and unlocking and deploying the manual inertial separator handle at 400 ft/lb torque to make sure it works. That’s about it; the G1000 already had our flight plan to Wellington, Kansas, south of ICT. Flaps are normally set to “approach” for takeoff; earlier Caravans had detents for 10, 20 and 30-degree positions, but the EX was simplified to “app” and “full”, the 20 and 30-degree points. Naturally, you can select any mid-position you desire.
Redline power is 2,347 ft/lbs., so moving the power- lever to about 2,200 was sufficient. Takeoff weight was just under 8,000 lbs. There’s no need to delay liftoff, initiated at 74 knots. Flaps came up at 95 knots and Vy is 108 knots. The EX climbed out at 1,500 fpm; for quietness, climb procedure normally reduces prop rpm to 1,800 rpm, from the 2,000 rpm takeoff setting.
There was no reason to climb high for the short run to Wellington; we leveled at 4,500 feet. Reducing prop rpm to 1,600 brought the torque up to 2,145 ft./lbs., with a profligate fuel flow of 420 pph; most Caravan flights are carried out at 10,000 feet or so, where fuel consumption is reduced to about 360 pph. The IAS settled on 157 knots, for a TAS of 170; without
DECEMBER 2016