We took the Mustang from STL to Buffalo to visit our families over the New Year, such an efficient travelling machine. The cost of the engines/fuel weren't THAT much more than 5 airline tickets (when our 4 month old is no longer a lap child that is).

As I've mentioned before it's such a temperature affected plane. ISA -3 to -5 can make a huge difference over ISA+5. The initial climb rates were in the 3000FPM+ on the cold temps, and we averaged 353TAS in the cruise at 36,000 feet. Going into a headwind I'm sure added a few knots to the TAS, but it hasn't been unusual to see speeds in the 350s with ISA minus.

Ah, I see your Mustang has the headwind compensator installed. Those are fantastic but difficult to maintain.

My plane doesn't have one.

Mike C.

Ah, I see your Mustang has the headwind compensator installed. Those are fantastic but difficult to maintain.

My plane doesn't have one.

Mike C.

FIFY

I flew westbound at 30k a couple days ago to drop plane in Wichita. At ISA -2 I was seeing 360-362 true. Had it dropped to -4, I would have had to pull it back out of the barber pole. Was a fuel penalty at 400 pounds a side, but the winds were brutal. I have now been bumped, and mechanically delayed for 2 days now in my attempt to get back home. I would gladly fly back a Cessna 150 instead of this awful disaster we now call commercial air travel.

Ah, I see your Mustang has the headwind compensator installed. Those are fantastic but difficult to maintain.

My plane doesn't have one.

Mike C.

I thought the same… when you could buy a Phenom 100 for something close to the price of a Mustang! With the delta and higher mx cost… it’s more airplane in every way.

They actually produced a sustainable fleet of airframes, which is the Cessna model, they've done the same thing with the 525 line. They produced 659 CJ/CJ1's, then 469 CJ2/2+, and
685 CJ3/3+ and 434 CJ4's so far.

It is very unfortunate that they didn't continue the 510 line, there's a lot of innovation in the Mustang that should have continued on to update the 525 size aircraft. The M2 is a great airplane, but the Mustang II would have been even better!

Hey Chip!

In what ways would a Mustang II have been better than an M2? I figured the M2 was a pretty well refined airplane--hard to improve.

Or course--Pratt engines would be nice.

Lack of parts commonality with the 525 line meant a Mustang is more expensive to make than an CJ1/M2. Lack of type rating commonality of the Mustang provide a bit more barrier to upgrading to larger airplanes, not so with the M2.

The M2 runs circles around the Mustang, performance wise.

Some Mustang features are making it into the 525 line, for example, the Mustang cabin door evolved to be the CJ4 door.


The Mustang II is perfect because it doesn't exist. Once it did, the M2 is probably still the better airplane.

Mike C.

I assumed the Mustang and Eclipse had a similar wingspan, but I just looked it up and that's not true.

Mustang 43' 2"
Eclipse 37' 9"
Cirrusjet 38' 8"

It would take a hit on performance efficiency, but a Mustang that would fit into a 40-foot hangar would probably have been a bigger winner. I swear that's why so many buy the comparatively performance-deficient Cirrusjet... they have a place to part it already.

I can’t figure out why people buying $3 million plane are basing their decision on whether or not it fits in a $400/month hangar.

I can’t figure out why people buying $3 million plane are basing their decision on whether or not it fits in a $400/month hangar.

I also fought the hangar war in Boston (and lost) when I was on a tighter budget.

At 90+% of airports, building is an option - and if you have $3M for a plane, you can build a hangar.

Personally, I like having someone else pull my plane out. I call before I leave for the airport, and it’s online when I arrive. Same when I return. It saves me a good 15 minutes on each end, and that’s cheaper than buying a plane that’s 30 minutes faster.

That's the best option to guarantee space, but I disagree that a $3M plane guarantees you can (or are willing to) afford to build the hangar at an airport near a major metro area.

Back in 2019, JWN offered lease options for hangar builds. It required a $1M/acre investment with parcel sizes between 0.5 acres and 9 acres, and you still had to pay annual land lease fees. Would have to be a sizeable corporation to accommodate that, and the person signing the check is going to be riding in the back.

I do see that they have a $2300/mo box hangar option, so that would probably work better assuming one is available for an owner-pilot.