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NEWS Navy Advanced Multi Engine Trainer Replacement
- Thread starter ChuckMK23
- Start date
Has it been formally announced?
"any day now"...
I got a chance to fly a brand new King Air 350C with the more powerful motors and Proline Fusion during my last tour in the Navy. Recently I've been flying a PC-12NG and NGX as a contract 135 pilot. No comparison, the PC-12 blows the King Air out of the water. Only thing the latter has going for it is two engines and realistically ~20 KTAS. The problem with sticking with a proven design is that it becomes tired and eventually you run out room to innovate.
Now for this particular mission, it's perfect. But overall the King Airs don't really stack up with the competition.
I know engines never fail any more, and I fly single engine puddle jumpers, but I’ve had 4 engine failures in flight in my career as pilot, and one as a passenger on an USAirways Airbus. All on multi-engine planes so far (knocks on wood).
Would love to fly a PC12, however.
As far as the mission goes, a tailhook and/or tilting engines and it’s truly ready for business.
Definitely not knocking multi engine, but the stats around single engine turboprops are pretty wild. Millions of flights hours and a literal handful of engine failures. Plus a lot of "failures" in ME land are precautionary shut downs as opposed to genuine seizures. Still wouldn't want to be single engine out over the middle of the ocean.
It's a unique experience, and certainly makes you pay extra attention to the little things.
Yeah, two of mine were me shutting it down. But the other two, they didn't ask my opinion.
That may have been the Gitmo station bird, it’s similarly painted. It flies to Jax regularly.
That being said, if it was the T-54, I hope that indicates that we will see it in Corpus sooner than later!
Could have been, not sure. Regularly see commercial carriers landing at KNIP on their way back from Gitmo though.
So apparently the King Air is the exception to the rule where you just keep tacking letters onto the end of a designator as long as it's vaguely related? Surprised it's a T-54 and not a T-44D or TC-12K or something.
