Page 8 - TNT Jan 17

by Leroy Cook
As of last summer, all four models of the Beechcraft King Air — C90GTx,
250, 350i and 350ER — had been transitioned into fully-integrated Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion avionics suites. This was no small matter,
given that going from the Pro Line 21 cockpit to the touch-screen Fusion suite involved integration with the aircraft’s flight controls, environmental systems, powerplants, air data systems, and flight management system. The beauty of it all is that Pro Line Fusion handles a lot of the King Air pilot’s day-to-day tasks, seamlessly and logically.
Because Rockwell Collins-designed Pro Line Fusion to be customizable, the Fusion installation in the King Airs can be tailored in different ways than, say, the system in a Bombardier Global. In the King Airs’ case, it is set up with a eye toward single-pilot operation. The displays can be split into two, three or four windows, if desired. Synthetic vision, including the “glowing dome” marker for airports, is standard. ADS-B Out, WAAS and TCAS II are all included. Extreme redundancy is built in, with dual AHRS, air data computers and FMS as part of the system, supported by a triple-fed electrical bus in the King Air 350i.
Sampling The King Air Fusion
If the transitioning pilot is coming from a Pro Line 21 cockpit, he or she will find considerable commonality with the new Fusion setup. However, I was extremely fortunate to have a chance to sample the latest version of the King Air 350 under the tutelage of Errol Wuertz, Textron Aviation sales demonstration pilot. Errol could type what seemed like 60 words per minute with the Qwerty keyboard on the Multifunction Keypad, and he exhibited considerable patience while I stumbled through inputs and readout searches.
Wuertz’s plan was to show me some of the Fusion cockpit’s features during a round- robin flight from the Wichita, Kansas factory, heading out west to the Hays VORTAC, then looping back around to Hutchinson for the recovery into ICT. He had filed us for FL260, hoping to top most of the left-over weather from a severe set of morning thunderstorms that had moved off toward Missouri.
6 • TWIN & TURBINE
January 2017
Flying The King