Tips on flying the Cessna 310 and 400 Series

[JediNein]

4) With the tip-tanked types, if you walk up to the plane to check the fuel and find an aux tank overflowing and the main down a bit (assuming it was topped-off after the last flight), don;t necessarily jump on the line guys. You might have a fuel selector going bad. There are little o-rings in there that can fail and will let the fuel from the main (which sits above the aux) flow down back through the line and into the aux.

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Akso check the function of the fuel cutoff valves and crossover valves every so often. It sucks to try to shut down a engine that's on fire, but it won't as there's still fuel.

 

[CRXAV8R]

Thinks for the tips guys currently working on Comm/Multi in a C-310R.

 

[RedGuy]

Thinks for the tips guys currently working on Comm/Multi in a C-310R.

That must be alittle expensive.

 

[SPBRIAN]

In flight use drag to slow you down, not a lot of pwer reductions. Lead a speed reduction(assuming you're setting up to land) with the landing lights. Depending on the model they'll shave off 5-10 kts and get you closer to flap speeds. Then as you get in the initial flap range just sort of sneak them out. If you go to the first 10 degrees(if memory serves) the thing will balloon like crazy.

All of the information is great and good tips but this one I don't possibly agree from a wear and tear stance. It was mentioned that you can increase the longetivity of the landing light motor+gears, to only operate them within the flap speeds, thus decreasing the loads on them. Also if you run them out for every landing don't raise them back up until after takeoff, that way you save an entire cycle plus if you test them during pre-flights it saves another cycle there.

-Brian

 

[deadstick]

Landing Lights

Those lights are a pain!! Some engineer in Wichita must have been smokin' some funky wheat chaff when he came up with the wiring.

In the 414 (and I assume the 310 alhough it's not mentioned in the Fuel System section), the Shuttle Pump (aka Main Tank Transfer Pump), which comes on with the Master, is on the same CB as the landing light. SO, if the landing light motor gets overloaded, like if it's OLD and doesn't to turn off once extended/retracted or is extended at too high of an airspeed (although no published limitation), then the CB could blow and no more shuttle pump. Hope you always get a shallow let-down. At night, you can tell if a landing light isn't on and might check the CB. But duringthe day...we just had to add that to a mental checklist to always check the CB after they were extended or retracted.

Another thing, exercise the Alt Air controls regularly. When you need it is the wrong time to find out the cable is gummed-up with 20 years of oil and dirt.

 

[hydroflyer]

I'm not sure about the other models, but with the 310R if you try landing with full flaps and are near the forward CG limit, the plane will have a hard time flaring and will land in more of a 3-point attitude. It is much easier to land the plane with 20 degrees of flaps or less with a far forward CG to get some sort of flare.

People always have litttle tricks for starting the engines, but usually the POH procedures work just fine. Be familiar with those listed especially for the hot starts.

If it is really warm outside and you have to hold short or idle for an extended period of time, watch your engine temps as they can creep near redline and then exceed it on takeoff.

Try not to land with any side drift in a crosswind with the gear. Differential thrust works well when landing in a crosswind if necessary.

Most of my time in the 310 was spent hand-flying it and I felt it was a great plane for that as it trimmed out well and could fly hands off nicely. Original "Nav-o-matic" autopilots could be suspect.

AOPA's Safety Foundation has a book on the 310 that includes highlights of accidents and typical problem spots with the plane. The book would be a good addition to a school that uses the plane for training.

 

[svcta]

interesting point to be made regarding the landing light circuit breaker: That pump in the main tanks that recirculates fuel in the tank runs continuously, as said earlier when the master is on. It is, in fact, on the same circuit breaker as the landing lights. We had 6 310s operating nearly every day(some with 12,000 hours on the airframe) and I am unaware of any problems regarding the landing light motor popping the C.B., but we would always pull those C.B.s after the lights were selected off for a few minutes in order to save time on those pumps. The concept being that we would like for them to work when they are really dsigned to: in the terminal area after long legs, and not needlessly during hours of cruise.

Now, I'll caution everyone to make this a part of their checklist before they start doing it. Those pumps were installed for a reason, which is to keep fuel in the proper part of the main tanks(tips) when you're maneuvering down low with not a lot of fuel, and subsequently keep the engines running when you're trying to land. SO MAKE SURE THEY'RE IN!! It was a part of our company checklists and training from the word "go" . make sure they're in.

By the way, there's no mistaking the landing lights when they're out. Day or night the whole airplane shudders a little when they're out. Both the big ones and little ones(lights).

 

[00Dog]

Make sure the nut is there and safety wired on the elevator trim. Know a guy that almost got killed when that came off.

 

[RedGuy]

All of the information is great and good tips but this one I don't possibly agree from a wear and tear stance. It was mentioned that you can increase the longetivity of the landing light motor+gears, to only operate them within the flap speeds, thus decreasing the loads on them. Also if you run them out for every landing don't raise them back up until after takeoff, that way you save an entire cycle plus if you test them during pre-flights it saves another cycle there.

-Brian

My Do and CP both told me to use the lights to slow down if you need to, and if anyone was worried about wear and tear they are. So I wouldn't worry about wearing out the landing lights. I've yet to have the light motor fail on me or pop the ciruit breaker. I also wouldn't pull th ebreakers to "save" the pumps in the tip tanks, they're designed to run the way they do for long periods of time. Plus what will inevitably happen is you will forget about them being pulled. Though the tanks have to be pretty low to make much of a differance. Also those book fuel flows, for get about them since they're all predicated on running at peak EGT. So if your running 50-75 deg ROP you'll be burning a few more gallons.