Dang, Ian, that's pilot talk.....Beta. Yeah, darned handy if you have slick conditions. But
only some turboprops and a few amphibs have it these days. I was flying right seat in a
T-44 (Beech King Air USN trainer) and got a nice demo of the depresurization emergency
decent. Slow to flap speed in level flight, exend full flaps, then the gear, then go to idle power,
and flat pitch on both props, then to full Beta and bring in the full power. YAAAA- HOOOO!
ROC pegged at well past 6000 ft/min down, in level flight. Once you are about 1,000 ft
above your desired altitude, bring back the power, go to normal pitch, bring up about 1/3 power, and
retract flaps and gear. Accelerate to normal cruising speed, power as required.
A friend could back his SeaBee amphib away from the dock with Beta on it. Helped a lot in
docking, too, normally zero brakes and easy to whack a dock with an amphib, but Beta gives
you brakes on the water.
Bill