Super King Air 200
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 65; Flight Crew Total 11000; Flight Crew Type 2000
Confusion; Communication Breakdown; Distraction; Time Pressure
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance
Air Traffic Control Issued New Clearance; Flight Crew Returned To Departure Airport; Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem
Aircraft; Human Factors
It was a routine maintenance flight for a malfunctioning pressurization system. A panel of the aircraft floor was removed to connect the diagnostic equipment. The Mechanic was asking questions and talking about the flight procedures to conduct the flight test. The pilot's routine for the 'before take off check list' got out of sequence and the auto ignitions were not armed. When I rotated and checked the airspeed; engine instrument; altitude and cabin pressurization I noticed the auto ignition switches were not turned on. I responded by reaching down and turning them on; not realizing that I had turned on the starter generator switches in place of the auto ignition. A series of events happened at the same time. The cabin pressurization system was acting strange so the Mechanic started talking to me about it. Then I was told to contact Departure Control. At the same time I contacted Departure Control; I noticed that both generator lights were indicating that they were not charging the battery. At this same time I did not turn to the heading that Departure Control assigned. In fact I started a right turn when I had been instructed to turn left. The Controller said that I see you are in a right turn not a left turn. As I started the turn back to the left he said to just continue the right turn and to listen up better. He also said if I were VFR in place of IFR that he would have more 'leeway' to let me do the maneuvers that I needed to do for the maintenance flight. I therefore cancelled the IFR and proceeded VFR with the maintenance flight. I now had two problems. The pressurization and the generator lights being the problem I was most concerned with. After a short time trying to reset the generators; which did not work; I decided to just come back and land to analyze what was wrong with the generators on the ground. I communicated with Departure Control that I was ready to return to the airport. He told me to turn toward the airport and contact Tower. When I contacted Tower they cleared me to land. My guess is that when I put down the gear it took most of the charge out of battery; and the heavy electrical load on system caused my current limiters to blow. As I turned off the runway and tried to contact Ground Control to taxi back to the Maintenance Facility; I discovered my radios would not work. I had to wait for the Tower to give me the green light and then I proceeded to taxi back to Maintenance. I feel the true cause was pilot error of grabbing the wrong switches while having a cluster of other events happening at the same time. To have prevented the event from happening would have been to simply slow down; don't deviate from the routine; and if a new problem arises (generator light not reset); just think back to what you did last (grabbed the wrong switches) and correct it.
A pilot in a King Air was distracted during a maintenance flight with a mechanic; and neglected to activate the auto ignition switches. When he noticed; he reached for the switches but unintentionally activated the starter generators; removing generator power from the electrical system. After a successful return to the departure airport; he discovered that his radio was unable to contact Ground Control; likely due to the exhaustion of the battery power.