Cessna 402 drivers question
 

I have time in many twins but no C402. Closest to it is the P58 Baron which has electric driven cowl flaps. Question,does the C402 have electric driven cowl flaps or are they manual? Also is there a cool down time (like the Baron is 4 min) before shutting the engines down? I plan to start flying a 402 soon and just trying to get a heads up on some items. Thanks.

Manual cowl flaps. Stage cooling in descent will be very beneficial to engine life. I usually taxiied in at idle and let them run for about a min before shutdown. I also stage cooled consistently and never had any problems. Ice on the other hand......

Not a happy airplane in ice!

Got some "B" model time. We didn't cool 'em down any more than the time it took to taxi to parking. And parking was usually just off the runway.

It was a very rare occasion that anything on those engines failed and had to be RRed. After hanging those engines they weren't touched untill TBO, except for the mandatory inspections.

Of course they did have relatively low TBOs (1400 hrs)

OK. Thanks for the reply. As for Ice,is there some inherent adverse condition of this plane different from most other twins? I previously flew Caravan's and I'm pretty sure it can't be as bad as those.At least as far as power to weight ratio,as the Caravan's are underpowered in my opinion.

The 402 with KI equipment has boots on the wings and tail, and it seems to handle the ice just fine. My company is flying the 402C up in the northeast right now and we haven't had any problems. The only real issue I've seen is that because the boots are blown from the exhaust side of the vacuum pumps, they can be slow to inflate at higher altitudes (8000'+). That could also be because the boots have been patched up about 30 times, too. ;)

Power/weight ratio is pretty nice on the 402. The airplane is decently overpowered when it's light, but if you're heavy it can be a bit of a dog. But, if you're heavy in the ice in a cruise climb and remain at takeoff power (no time limit), it'll do just fine. What does the Caravan weigh at MGTOW? The 402C with the vortex generator mod has a MGTOW of 7210 lbs, and with 650hp total you'll still see good performance out of it.

The Caravan w/ PT6-114A has 675hp and ours was written in with Oper/Specs in our manual at 8950 MGTOW. Otherwise it was 8500lbs. That was so nice of the Administrator to allow another 450lbs. That was with or without the POD. At 8950 /sea level it climbed moderately. But of course at high density altitudes it really suffered. A good VFR plane but I didn't care too much for IFR/in ice in the 208. The flight in the 402 are likely high altitude departures. It's likely very close to the P58 Baron with IO-520's at 325hp. The Baron makes good power so I'm hoping the 402 performs close to that.

Flown two winter seasons in the Northeast in 402's the plane handles moderate ice well if everything is working properly. If your carrying a load of ice on landing the tail can stall in the flare if you fail to anticipate it. Landing with reduced flaps or by landing flat it is easily avoidable.

Only bad experience in icing with the plane was a freezing rain (severe Ice) encounter but, most aircraft don;t handle that too well.

That's pretty much the experience I've had with all the other twins I've flown. Freezing Rain! I've only taxied in it and would never depart in it. Anyway thanks guys for the info. I was surprised to see it doesn't have electric actuated cowl flaps. I hated trying to open and close the ones on the other light twins. The Baron is so nice,guess I got spoiled.

Then you've never flown a B55 Baron...those were manual as well. Either way, whether it be the 335/340/402/414 (and I'll include the 401 as it's close but I don't have personal experience in it)--managing the cowl flaps is the same. Manual. Works great and you don't have to flip the battery on to close them if you've forgotten after you've tied down.

Enough graphite on the cowl flap cable should make operation easier.

X

Thanks for the info. I had a feeling the 402 would be manual although I am surprised the 340 is manual. But ya if it is well lubed they open just fine. Another 402 question is the "split flaps". Anyone ever had had a malfunction with them. Just looking at the design makes me think how bad that could be. I understand basically they have an electric motor driving push-pull rods to a bell crank in the wing. I never had trouble with other twins but then I never had split flaps.
btw/It took me 2 days to log back on here,not sure why the system wasn't working.