You and me both. If I already had my strip paved, I don't think I'd be able to resist.

Every time I seriously consider the MU2 I kind of feel silly because I'm only putting about 100 hours per year on my Baron and it has proven to be cheap and easy to maintain. It's no speed demon, but it's fast enough, easy on gas, hauls a lot, and like a cheap date, it's always ready to go.

I feel a Mits wave coming on.

The cabin AC ducts run on the top of the fuselage. I bet after they sit out in the sun a few hours, it takes 20 minutes to get the cabin comfortable. No thanks.

I think painting an MU2 all black is like buying a car with a black vinyl interior in Phoenix.

Mike C.

It's a Darth Vader airplane! Looking cool is much more important than being cool.

Give me black leather anywhere, phoenix, east coast. Triple black is even better. Used to fly a Lear 24 that had black leather interior. It was the coolest looking plane ever. N39EL if I remember correctly.

You don't need no pavement.



MU2 is very good off the pavement. In fact, it lands better and the tires last much longer! With beta reverse thrust, you don't care about the braking action, either.

Main tires are 65 PSI, nose tires are 55 PSI, which is reasonably low pressure for surfaces.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGRBzbmwJxQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s4GcQB6YyQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SggESoOw97g

Mike C.

I'm all for the Mits love, but don't forget the Turbo Commanders as an alternative in the same vein. They offer about the same performance, without the SFAR, for about the same money. They share the same engine, have bigger cabin and can probably be operated for the same if not less cost (lower temps on the TPE's). Just saying.

Just don't grab that tail and give it a tug.

Just don't grab that tail and give it a tug.

Not a myth. They are just like a Westwind tail, ie Jet Commander, they shake like hell if you grab them and give em a tug.

The SFAR is a positive for me. It keeps pilots and pax safer. Most insurance companies require yearly training anyway. But, I would bet I have spent the better part of a year in training centers around the country. The SFAR pales in comparison to a 5 week type rating class.

Craig,

I couple of Ag-pilots operated Mits out of the same fields we flew the crop-dusters out of. Mike Reightley of Kawak Aviation - Thrush TPE-331 / Ag Air systems had Mu-2 s/n 351. We flew ours to visit a lot of other operators: Bill Lavender, Dick Reade, Chuck Stone, Darrell Riddell , Steve Gustin plus going to NAAA conventions in Reno and Mobile as well as visiting Dole & Chiquita ops in Central and Latin America.

The Mits was perfect for hauling into and out of Ag strips. I think the shortest my Dad went into was 1500 ft in Suriname. Guy was flying an 225 Ag-cat out of the strip. I shortest for me was 2200ft. We both have flown out of X51 - 9000 ft grass visiting old Cropdusting friends Bob, Mark and Franklin Howe of Indiantown FL.

As I have stated we used our Mits to take off earlier out of MKJP fly down to Costa Rica to meet with other Thrush operators, clear customs and head out to what ever strip the planes were operating out of; have 4-5 hours of discussions and depart for 2,5 hours overwater back in time to spray the next morning.




Nigel

Not sure I'd agree with the less cost part...and then there is the issue of what support you get for the plane where Mitsubishi stands second to none.

My plane is presently at a shop that specializes in Aero-Commanders (will post details on why and what happened in a few weeks when the dust settles). The shop foreman told me they had waited up to 8 months for parts for Aero-Commanders (some had to be specially manufactured and were very expensive). He was shocked Mitsubishi had the part we needed for mine (an airframe part that theoretically is never replaced once the plane is built) in stock and shipped to them in two days....

I looked at an Aero-Commander when I bought the Mits. Realized the Aero-Commander would be much more expensive to maintain than the MU-2.

Looks like this -6 K model does:

FL220, 66% torque, 96% RPM, 75 GPH, 282 KTAS.

I have numbers from a recent flight in my -10 M model:

FL270, 70% torque, 96% RPM, 68 GPH, 294 KTAS.

Being able to get that much torque up high is the benefit of the -10 engine so you can now fly higher and faster on less fuel.

If I fly at FL220, I can muster almost 100% torque, 96% RPM, 85 GPH, 315 KTAS, depending on temps. Fastest I've ever been in level flight is 318 KTAS. I tend not to fly it at the fastest speed, preferring to save the fuel and fly higher.

Mike C.

It is about a 20 knot difference. Given a Commander and an MU2 of comparable configuration (-10 engine or not, for example).


The knock on the Commanders has always been some sort of corrosion problem.

Things like this:

http://www.commander-aero.com/SERVICE/T ... pairs.aspx

Or this (particularly the last photo):

http://www.northeastair.com/aircraft-ma ... lletin-237

Or all of these things:

http://www.northeastair.com/aircraft-ma ... commanders

I can't recall a moment in time when the Twin Commander wasn't either under some onerous spar or corrosion AD, or under the threat of one.

When I asked any shop which maintains both Commanders and MU2 which is cheaper to maintain, the answer was unanimous, the MU2.


The temps are set by the engines and they are the same make to make.

Mike C.