[elky] [non] Flying
- From: Jared Ryan <jryan@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: elky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 5 Jan 2011 08:57:57 -0600
I got to fly in my friend's King Air 200 last night. For those unfamiliar with
it, here is a picture of a similar plane:
This wasn't a necessary flight. The idea was that the King Air is not going to
fly much for the next month, because its pilot is going to be in school to
learn to fly a new jet, and he wanted to get the engines up to operating
temperature, cycle the landing gear and flaps, and generally get the fluids
moving and warmed up.
Anyway, we took off from Houston Hobby Airport with a 500 ft. ceiling and flew
down to Brazoria County, did a missed approach (on purpose) so the gear could
be cycled down and back up, and flew back to Hobby. It should have been about
20 minutes in the air, total. Going back to Hobby is where the fun started.
The approach controller brought us in too high and fast, and John and Clay
waved off the approach before we even got very low. We circled around, and
this time the controller tried to bring us in in front of a Southwest 737,
which resulted in us having to dive, and at 500 ft., we still couldn't see the
runway, and were going too fast. So the pilots again called off the approach,
and during the climb-out, kinda told off the controller. "We want you to bring
us out far enough that we can stabilize our descent and not have to dive to
make the runway." Third time was the charm. We finally broke out of cloud at
280 ft. (!) - minimum for that airplane is 250 ft.
Seeing the runway of a major airport like Hobby through the cockpit windows is
a special treat that airline passengers just don't get. The lights at night
are incredible, and each has a purpose.
Almost as soon as we saw the runway, John started the flare, and we were down
just past the threshold.
He told me after they shut down and we'd tidied up the plane that he had not
missed an approach in over two years and did two of them tonight because of a
controller trying to be cute. He was pretty miffed. He also said that if
conditions at Hobby had been as bad as they were when we landed, we wouldn't
have taken off. Conditions at Hobby worsened while we were down at Brazoria
County. We're pretty sure we were the next-to-last flight to land for a while
last night.
Anyway, it was very fun to ride on the King Air. It's a beautiful plane, and
very comfortable, even in bumpy conditions. There are no squeaks or rattles,
and the engine noise is not bad. Being a turboprop, it is a different sound
from a jet airliner. That is the first time I can remember flying on a
turboprop and only the third time I have flown in anything fixed-wing other
than a 737.
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