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The Little Things About Big Engines
There’s no substitute for horsepower.
22 • TWIN & TURBINE
November 2018
by Joe Casey
Truer words have never been spoken. If you want speed, you need the engine that de- velops the greatest horsepower. Why? Try as you must, nothing will replace having more horses under the hood – not even leverage. You can move the world with a long
lever, but you can’t move it far. Aerodynamic efficiency helps, but not enough to move the needle appreciably. Shrinking the size of the tube going through the sky isn’t feasible. So, if you want to go fast (and what twin and turbine owner doesn’t, right?), there’s simply no substitute for horsepower.
I’ve had the pleasure of flying every King Air version over the years, having managed (and flown) a C90, 200, B100 and a 300/350 for the last decade. I fly all the versions during training or on ferry flights each year. I’m a huge King Air fan. Which is my favorite? No doubt about it, the King Air 300 is the clear winner. Why? It has the biggest engines mounted on the same fuselage as the King Air 200, and it flat-out performs.
I can load up full fuel, put a person in every seat, fill the luggage compartment with everything that comes out of an over-loaded suburban, roll a surprisingly short distance down the runway and climb out at better than 2,500 fpm on a standard day. It is simply an amazing machine, and that is because it has the biggest PT6 that Beechcraft could figure out how to bolt on the airframe. The King Air 300/350 is the true Ferrari of the King Air world, undoubtedly due to its power.
But wait...there’s something even better than the 300/350?
Blackhawk Modifications, based in my home state of Texas, has built an entire business around the knowledge that horsepower is irreplaceable. They’ve figured out how to remove big engines from great airframes and up the ante by upping the horsepower even higher. Owners can now upgrade to the XP-67A engine and make their King Air 350 climb quicker, cruise faster and look
PHOTO COURTESY OF BLACKHAWK MODIFICATIONS