I am in Port Richey, Florida. North of Tampa.

My understanding is that the prop AD was about cracks in the old style hubs. There have been zero cracks in the new hubs. The MU2 group asked Hartzell to remove the AD and they refused. This was expected because Hartzell is profiting from this archaic AD. Our wonderful owners who obtained the AMOC are working with the FAA to remove the AD altogether. Unfortunately this will take a few years to complete. The FAA has asked the owners to compile the AD test results as the inspections are performed.

A great option for this is the sims at SimCom Orlando. It isn't the "real" airplane (and the sim deviates from reality in a few places, the real airplane is a LOT easier to fly), but you get to experience the full range of behaviors.

I went to the sim to test my ability to fly an MU2. Afterward, my MU2 thinking went from "well, maybe, someday" to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2O7rZTBs7w

"I gotta get me one of these!"

I am pretty sure you can call SimCom and arrange a few hours in the sim with an instructor for a familiarization flight.

Where are you located? I might know an MU2 operator near you.

Mike C.

Jerry,

Your best bet would be to link up with an MU-2 owner and actually see or fly in the plane. When I was first looking, I flew out to Nashville and met with Reece Howell (an MU-2 instructor and possibly the highest time MU-2 pilot in the world). I sat in on part of an initial ground school and then went flying with Reece. Came away convinced (a) the plane is safe to fly if you are properly trained and (b) I had to get one! He also typically has a number of short and long-body models there for maintenance or training so it gives you a chance to compare them.

All the day cost me was the cost of a plane ticket to/from Nashville....

You can reach Reece at www.mu2b.com (I have no financial interest).

Dave

I have flown this very plane and I can tell you its fully operational and ready to go.

I have flown this very plane and I can tell you its fully operational and ready to go.

Yep, confirmed with seller it's gone. Great deal. Hard to recreate that one.

It was purchased by a fellow bt member

A good friend of mine was the pilot for the previous owner 13 years ago. He said it was a great F model.

Will he be announcing?

The general people who answer the phone don't know about off menu items.

Contact the Simcom Orlando Training Center Manager, John Warnk, to discuss this specific request. See if you can arrange Tim Keller as the instructor. Tim spoke with John about doing a demo flight in the sim and he says this will be no problem to arrange.

I will be at Simcom from Feb 17-20 doing an SFAR recurrent. I'm sure we can arrange a way you could observe if you like. You can learn a lot just by watching. We can even go flying in my plane if you want a taste of the real thing.

Mike C.

The general people who answer the phone don't know about off menu items.

Contact the Simcom Orlando Training Center Manager, John Warnk, to discuss this specific request. See if you can arrange Tim Keller as the instructor. Tim spoke with John about doing a demo flight in the sim and he says this will be no problem to arrange.

I will be at Simcom from Feb 17-20 doing an SFAR recurrent. I'm sure we can arrange a way you could observe if you like. You can learn a lot just by watching. We can even go flying in my plane if you want a taste of the real thing.

Mike C.

Contact the Simcom Orlando Training Center Manager, John Warnk, to discuss this specific request. See if you can arrange Tim Keller as the instructor. Tim spoke with John about doing a demo flight in the sim and he says this will be no problem to arrange.

I will be at Simcom from Feb 17-20 doing an SFAR recurrent. I'm sure we can arrange a way you could observe if you like. You can learn a lot just by watching. We can even go flying in my plane if you want a taste of the real thing.

Mike C.[/quote]

...and that is exactly how everyone I've met in the MU2 community rolls. I don't even know Mike and the one time I had an issue with mine and got stuck in Orlando for a night (it was about 300 hours ago in December of last year, a few weeks after I bought it) he analyzed data I sent him and talked (emailed anyway) me through it. You're not just buying an airplane, you're buying the group.[/quote]




Gentlemen:

Agreed! My early contacts within the community thus far have been nothing but top drawer.

David K was very generous w/ his time on the phone w/ me the other night and referenced a few good contacts to help me in my learning curve uptake. He also got me hooked up in the Mu2 forum which I'm slowly absorbing. Learning nuances of the type, maintenance schedules and tips, sources of training, where parts and pieces can be located is what I'm all about before getting to into a purchase. After the A*, my current steed (B36) is outstanding in handling, w/ robust, reliable construction, but it is a bit limited in capability. Too spoiled,- I guess.

Mike, thanks again, I'll call Simcom back w/ the new info- and if I'm in Florida at that time, I'll surely make the time to meet & greet and maybe take a rear position behind you in the sim if I haven't gotten there 1st! Sounds good to me...

Craig, thanks for confirming just what I've seen so far. Looking forward to more.

BTW, the more due diligence I get done, the more efficient, particularly w/ operational costs I'm finding the Mits is over say a -21,-28 Pratt in the typical C or E90. KA owners may disagree... My shop is VERY familiar w/ the KA types and of course, are wanting me to go that way. Seems to me even the F model Mits is a better performing/ efficient mount than the KA (I'll get lots of flak from that comment) But my guess is there are a lot more used Pratts out there than Garretts when the time comes to decide on OVHL or swap a used engine w/ time left back in....that's probably the big Plus +1 for the KA, which I also think is a great aircraft (who am I to question its huge success)..

Hanger space pricing alone is 1/2 for the Mits w/ a 39 wing vs. 51+ for KA, which is priced @ about double at my home field.

Best regards,

Yes, Mits will get you a lot more performance, more efficiently, than a KA. Not that a KA isn't a good airplane, but the Mits is more of a performer. Garretts have substantially better fuel specifics than PT6 (i.e. HP per pound of fuel used).


This is also true, though beware that the T-hangar limiting dimension is typically the distance from back of wing tip tank to front of nose. A short body Mits will need 20' in this T dimension for a T hangar, and that's pretty bare minimum.

Other than that it's very space efficient. In fact, I have a large-ish "half-T" hangar that happens to have doors on both sides, and I have a hangar partner with a TBM850. We get the Mits in the smaller side, the TBM in the larger side (H-tails overlap because TBM tail is high and Mits tail is low) and still have room to store my boat for the winter. His airplane has a somewhat larger footprint than mine and his V-stab is taller - and has less interior room. Mits is very space efficient except for the tip tank thing.

Ok, potentially dumb question: would you fly the airplane there on Monday, airline home, then airline back the following Friday or Monday to pick it up?

I'm spoiled in that my shop is on the field so they just tow the plane from my hangar to their and fix whatever's broke then put it back. My 210 was maintained remotely and that worked but it was a bit of a pain to move the airplane whenever it needed something...

Robert