King Air brakes question
 

Howdy all,

Recently took a KA job (air ambulance) and had a question. I'm flying a 200 with skinny tires, no previous KA experience, but two type ratings and a good amount of non-type turbine time.

Since we fly into some short fields, and having never done an actual short field/max performance landing, I tried one on a repo leg (the thought of trying my first short field on an actual short field with a patient seemed a bad idea). On post flight, I found the left outboard tire badly flat spotted. The other three mains showed some slight checking (what I would consider normal under hard braking).

So my question, is asymmetric braking between the wheels on the same side common? My mechanic didn't seem worried about it, but since both wheels on each leg share the same hydraulics, it seems bizarre to me.

Thanks for any info.

(Mods, feel free to move this. I was unsure where I should put this.)

A BE99 is super sensitive to locking up the inside tire while you're turning.

Thanks, good to know. Appreciate the info.

But this was the outboard rolling straight ahead.

The King Air doesn't have anti-skid, correct? Maybe later model 350s and 300s? I can't remember a damn thing these days.

no anti-skid on any 350 that I know of, nor have I ever heard it in over 10 years of recurrent

I second this. Skidded the crap out of the 350 first day I had the stick.
Anyway, is ground fine/ reverse seriously not enough? How short are we talking? With a fully loaded 350 (8pax 2 crew, bags, 1hour fuel left) I never had a ground roll in excess of 2500 with ground fine only. Never had to touch reverse or brakes, until it came to back taxi. Then I used brakes a little.

Our standard minimum length is 3500. Below that we do a risk assessment and get a second opinion. One west Texas strip we occasionally use is 2500 feet long, about 1000MSL and is often over 100 degrees. Strictly speaking, our only limitation is it must be long enough to take off.

Skidding
 

How is the tire inflation? Over inflated will skid sooner. F90 similar brakes and tires has very strong brakes, easy to skid on landing. My rule beta and reverse and as speed decreases then brake. Brake first on landing, skid and flat spot, ask me how I know. Also be cautious using brakes turning with any speed easy to skid the inside gear's out board tire with weight shift. I teach my students heals on floor for landing to avoid any chance of brake on the landing transition. Small tires strong brakes, easy skid. Cheers.

Well I was in cold country if that helps. Wayyy up north. Typically with a good headwind too. Still in the US though. Not alaska, haha. But the few times in. Texas, AZ, FL and the like yeah, 2,500 was tight.
Our TO's were usually in the 3,500foot range. Al ost always full fuel, full pax. Within a few lbs of MaxTO weight.

I flew Beech 99's. I don't really remember using the brakes much. The ground fine to slight reverse worked really well. I was landing on 33R in BOS no problem. I had FO's flat spot the tires by inadvertent brake application on landing.