US Army designation: C-12S
JGSDF designation: LR-2
TYPE: Utility turboprop twin.
PROGRAMME: Replaced King Air 300 (1991-92 Jane's); first flight (N120SK) September 1988; introduced at NBAA Convention 1989; certified to FAR Pt 23 (commuter category); first delivery 6 March 1990; Russian certification to AP 23 in November 1995; FAA approval for operation from unprepared runways granted during 1997.
CURRENT VERSIONS: King Air 350: Baseline version.
Detailed description applies to King Air 350.
King Air 350C: Has 132 x 132 cm (52 x 52 in) freight door with built-in airstair passenger door.
King Air 350 Special Mission: Version available from last half of 2004 for homeland security, aerial photography and airways and ground-based navaid checking. Max take-off and landing weight 7,484 kg (16,500 lb), maximum ramp weight 7,530 kg (16,600 lb), max zero-fuel weight 5,897 kg (13,000 lb); provision for HISAR and SeaVue reconnaissance systems; wing fuel lockers; mission endurance seven hours.
Australian Army received King Air 350 VH-HPJ in 1998 as follow-on (to Douglas C-47 Dakota) test platform for Ingara SAR/MTI radar in ventral pannier; installation by Hawker Pacific.
RC-350 Guardian: Elint version, converted from 350 prototype 1991 by Beech Aircraft Corporation; mission avionics include Raytheon AN/ALQ-142 ESM, Watkins-Johnson 9195C communications interceptor, Honeywell laser INS, GPS receiver and Cubic secure digital datalink; can loiter on station at 10,670 m (35,000 ft) for more than 6 hours; can locate/monitor radar emitters in 20 MHz to 18 GHz range, and intercept communications within 20 to 1,400 MHz bandwidths. Wingtip pods house AN/ALQ-142 antennas; underfuselage bulge contains antenna for comint system.
LR-2: Japan Ground Self-Defence Force funded two in FY97 for liaison and reconnaissance (undisclosed sensor in ventral radome). Total requirement for 20, of which third funded in 1999, fourth in FY00, fifth in FY01 and sixth in FY02. First delivery (23051) 22 January 1999; initial operator is the HQ Flight of 1st Helicopter Brigade at Kisarazu.
C-12S: US Army version with quick-change cargo capability and seating for up to 15 passengers. By late 2000, no aircraft of this type had been identified in service.
CUSTOMERS: Total 377 King Air 350s and 350Cs delivered by September 2003; first 350C delivery in 1990 to Rossing Uranium, Namibia; 15 King Air 350 deliveries 1995, 27 in 1996, 30 in 1997, 42 in 1998, 45 in 1999, 46 in 2000, 32 in 2001, 24 in 2002, and 15 in the first nine months of 2003. Recent customers include the Royal Australian Air Force, which signed a lease contract on 20 November 2002 for seven King Air 350s for delivery from June 2003, to be operated by 32 Squadron for the RAAF School of Navigation at East Sale, replacing H.S.748s and King Air 200s.
COSTS: 350 US$5.404 million; 350C US$5.848 million (both 2001).
DESIGN FEATURES: Compared with King Air 300, fuselage stretched 0.86 m (2 ft 10 in) by plugs 0.37 m (1 ft 2½ in) forward of main spar and 0.49 m (1 ft 7½ in) aft; wing span increased by 0.46 m (1 ft 6 in) with NASA winglets 0.61 m (2 ft 0 in) high; two additional cabin windows each side. Can depart with full payload and full tanks. Raisbeck dual aft body strakes (DABS), standard on production aircraft from c/n FL-312 (N3165M) in first quarter 2001, reduce drag, improve handling and stability and relax or eliminate restrictions on operations with inoperative yaw damper.
FLYING CONTROLS: Automatic cable tensioner in aileron circuit and larger elevator bobweight; larger rudder anti-servo tab; ailerons and rudder cleaned up.
STRUCTURE: As for B200.
LANDING GEAR: As for B200.
POWER PLANT: Two 783 kW (1,050 shp) Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-60A turboprops, each driving a Hartzell four-blade, constant-speed, fully feathering, reversible-pitch, metal propeller. Bladder cells and integral tanks in each wing, with usable capacity of 1,438 litres (380 US gallons; 316.5 Imp gallons); auxiliary tanks inboard of engine nacelles, capacity 601 litres (159 US gallons; 132.5 Imp gallons). Total fuel capacity 2,040 litres (539 US gallons; 449 Imp gallons). No provision for wingtip tanks. Oil capacity 30.2 litres (8.0 US gallons; 6.7 Imp gallons).
ACCOMMODATION: Double club seating for eight passengers; optionally two more seats in rear of cabin and one passenger on side-facing lavatory seat making maximum 11 passengers; certified for maximum 17 occupants including crew. Ultra Electronics UltraQuiet active noise control system installed as standard from 1998.
SYSTEMS: As for B200, except for automatic bleed air-type heating and 22,000 BTU cooling system with high-capacity ventilation system; 2,182 litre (77 cu ft) oxygen system standard; hydraulic landing gear retraction and extension; two 300 A 28 V starter/generators with triple bus electrical distribution system. Ultra Electronics Ltd UltraQuiet active noise control system introduced as standard from 1998, comprising 12 loudspeakers, 24 microphones and a high-speed digital processor which cancel propeller noise and reduce in-flight cabin sound level to less than 80 db(A).
AVIONICS: Rockwell Collins Pro Line II as core system, with three- or five-tube EFIS, TWR-850 Doppler weather radar and Universal UNS-1K or UNS-1D FMS both with 12-channel GPS. Pro Line 21 option available from 2003.
EQUIPMENT: Generally as for B200.