Narrative:

Was getting checked out in a BE20 -- I'm not a king air pilot and never flew one before (except 20 hours in BE99 long ago); but did sit in the plane all day and read about its system on the previous day. Have been occasionally flying C525 (CJ1) and was going to start flying the BE20 several days a month. The BE20 was just under gross weight. Takeoff roll from runway 31 was uneventful; but right after lift off the CFI reduced power at the right engine to what he thought was zero-thrust. I put the gear up and got the plane near blue-line (vyse = 121KIAS) then started to trim. CFI told me not to trim. This was a surprise to me and I asked him why as we climbed at 100 ft per minute. I was struggling because my seat was not adjusted and could barely hold enough rudder without the trim but the plane was more or less at blue-line. We were climbing so slowly I didn't want to turn if I could help it; but there was hills ahead so I turned slightly right which put us on a direct course to the town. CFI talked about why I shouldn't use trim as I struggled with the plane and tried to get him to let me use it. The plane was still barely climbing but we managed to be about 300 or 400 ft AGL when I saw the town approaching. I mentioned the houses and he didn't say anything so I turned right to avoid buzzing them. This put us on a course toward the approaching end of runway 29 and I realized that we would soon have another problem. He probably wanted me to set up for a straight-in to runway 29 as a solution to my 'problem.' I visually checked out the pattern there and told the CFI that we were going to have a problem the way we were entering the pattern (from the wrong side and below) so he finally gave me back the right motor and I started a climb. He then directed me towards downwind for runway 11; probably wanting me to enter on a climbing crosswind but he would have been going the wrong way as there was a plane on downwind for runway 29 so I pointed this out. There was no planes on base or final for runway 29 so I headed for final approach during the climb and entered the pattern at about 500 ft on final -- in a 2000 FPM climb -- and flew upwind and crosswind to climb out of the pattern. Sunny saturday morning = busy traffic pattern. He came to his senses and we went to another airport to do the single-engine work and that worked very well though at first he did not give me the right propeller RPM (1600 vs. 2000) for the zero-thrust and that caused us to fly low over a few houses on one climb-out. Causes: besides the CFI's poor judgment (he was obviously disregarding the regulations to give me a 'realistic' training scenario) he had the zero-thrust setting wrong. I noticed our predicament about 20 seconds too late and acted on it several more seconds too late because I was busy trying to fly the plane as instructed. My desire to do what he wanted was high since this was checked and would mean extra (needed) flying for me. I was also very busy trying to get the plane climbing; especially without the use of rudder trim and a mis-adjusted seat (too close). My lack of time in the plane was also a factor. I've never had such a problem with single-engine work in a piston or turbo-prop twin I have flown; but I have always used trim before. Future actions: brief and lesson/checkouts ahead of time. Break off from the student attitude as soon as I notice a possible safety/legal issue and act to keep safe and legal.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: BE20 trainee reports simulated engine failure that put aircraft in jeopardy due to incorrect power setting on 'failed' engine. After some delay the instructor allows the training scenario to be discontinued.

Narrative: Was getting checked out in a BE20 -- I'm not a King Air pilot and never flew one before (except 20 hours in BE99 long ago); but did sit in the plane all day and read about its system on the previous day. Have been occasionally flying C525 (CJ1) and was going to start flying the BE20 several days a month. The BE20 was just under gross weight. Takeoff roll from Runway 31 was uneventful; but right after lift off the CFI reduced power at the right engine to what he thought was zero-thrust. I put the gear up and got the plane near blue-line (VYse = 121KIAS) then started to trim. CFI told me not to trim. This was a surprise to me and I asked him why as we climbed at 100 FT per minute. I was struggling because my seat was not adjusted and could barely hold enough rudder without the trim but the plane was more or less at blue-line. We were climbing so slowly I didn't want to turn if I could help it; but there was hills ahead so I turned slightly right which put us on a direct course to the town. CFI talked about why I shouldn't use trim as I struggled with the plane and tried to get him to let me use it. The plane was still barely climbing but we managed to be about 300 or 400 FT AGL when I saw the town approaching. I mentioned the houses and he didn't say anything so I turned right to avoid buzzing them. This put us on a course toward the approaching end of Runway 29 and I realized that we would soon have another problem. He probably wanted me to set up for a straight-in to Runway 29 as a solution to my 'problem.' I visually checked out the pattern there and told the CFI that we were going to have a problem the way we were entering the pattern (from the wrong side and below) so he finally gave me back the right motor and I started a climb. He then directed me towards downwind for Runway 11; probably wanting me to enter on a climbing crosswind but he would have been going the wrong way as there was a plane on downwind for Runway 29 so I pointed this out. There was no planes on base or final for Runway 29 so I headed for final approach during the climb and entered the pattern at about 500 FT on final -- in a 2000 FPM climb -- and flew upwind and crosswind to climb out of the pattern. Sunny Saturday morning = busy traffic pattern. He came to his senses and we went to another airport to do the single-engine work and that worked very well though at first he did not give me the right propeller RPM (1600 vs. 2000) for the zero-thrust and that caused us to fly low over a few houses on one climb-out. Causes: Besides the CFI's poor judgment (he was obviously disregarding the regulations to give me a 'realistic' training scenario) he had the zero-thrust setting wrong. I noticed our predicament about 20 seconds too late and acted on it several more seconds too late because I was busy trying to fly the plane as instructed. My desire to do what he wanted was high since this was checked and would mean extra (needed) flying for me. I was also very busy trying to get the plane climbing; especially without the use of rudder trim and a mis-adjusted seat (too close). My lack of time in the plane was also a factor. I've never had such a problem with single-engine work in a piston or turbo-prop twin I have flown; but I have always used trim before. Future Actions: Brief and lesson/checkouts ahead of time. Break off from the student attitude as soon as I notice a possible safety/legal issue and act to keep safe and legal.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.