This is very true, but that's why I referred to most of us as weekend warriors vs professional students being trained at the very highest level for 8 hours per day, 6 days per week by the absolute best pilots in the world. Oh and that class of 20 kids they send out to the carrier with 200TT started as a class of 40. The other 20 are learning how to operate some piece of machinery on a surface ship someplace because the Navy very quickly applied their time tested formula to figure out who will make it and who won't. The civilian pilot system is totally different.

There are a bunch of things to learn here:
IFR operations in the real world.
Multi engine operations.
Pressurization and the flight levels.
SID's STAR's
Speed acclimation.


Your talking about using this in a business...
This implies a huge get there pressure.

Then there is insurance...

I think you need to take at least one intermediate step between the SR-22 and the MU-2

Maybe a good start would be get a FIKI SR-22 and use it in weather...



I put 250 hrs on a Travel Air between my MEL and buying my Aerostar.
I did a lot of traveling in that airplane and I believe it was good training for the step up.
Given that I wish I'd made the jump to a a turbo prop rather than the
Aerostar as the pressurized piston maintenance has been really painful.

Totally agree Scott...kind of an extreme example. When I did it we had wash-outs but most guys with eye hand coordination, a strong work ethic, and a "can-do" attitude had no issues. I guess maybe an MU-2 is not a weekend warrior plane. If someone wants to use it as a single-pilot business tool they have to be willing to pay the training tax. If someone has the means to skip the pressurized piston twin and is willing to train I think it is completely reasonable to go from an SR-22 to an MU-2.

FIRST THINGS FIRST

REMEMBER MANY VERY EXPERIENCED PILOTS HAVE GOTTEN INTO BAD BAD TROUBLE WITH AN MU2.

Suggest.......

Purchase a nice piston twin. Cheep or expensive.

Get comfortable in a twin

Build time.

Obtain your IFR ticket.

Learn to fly instruments well.

Seriously consider a commercial ticket.

Become a very good instrument pilot.

Obtain extensive MU2 training in advance of MU2 check-ride

Then determine if the Rice Burrner is for you.

I was with you until right there. The engine out procedures in a piston twin require far more precision than those in a turbine (though the turbine can still bite just ask the guys at ADS) but they are fundamentally the same. Maintain directional control, maintain proper airspeed, set power, clean up the plane, run the checklist. In that order. It’s the same procedure whether you’re in a Twin Comanche or a Dreamliner.

Jonathan, you sound like a highly motivated, intelligent guy. Maybe my experience has been different...but several decades ago I started using a plane to actually get places, more or less on time.


IFR/IMC has provided me with some of the most adrenaline of anything I've ever done. It's "not difficult" when everything goes right, when the weather cooperates, when ATC doesn't throw you a curve ball, etc.


Respectfully, I submit it's a hell of a lot different when you are there by yourself, with no one to bail you out when you get the "leans", or when something simply doesn't make sense. Or, just like happened to me on a low approach last week...you get close to the FAF, and the guy in the Bonanza in front of you doesn't cancel when he lands, you get a sudden "cancel approach clearance, go to XXX and hold" and you are trying to figure out what to do. Now, several decades into it, it's a "oh well" experience.


I just vividly remember it being "not so easy" sometimes.
And, I'll accept, I'm probably not as good as a lot of people. But, I've survived.


IME, it's easier to sort that stuff out in a simpler plane, a slower plane....and get some actual IFR, all by your lonesome.


Wishing you all the best....

Anyone who doesn't stop for a minute when Stan Musick speaks is either new or a fool.

I'm used to people thinking the rules don't apply to them (in business, personal life, aviation and other things) because I've seen it so many times over decades. Occasionally they don't end in disaster for some reason or another but it's extremely rare.

Sometimes that thinking is just the result of arrogance fueled by not having caught your balls in a trap yet. Sometimes its ignorance. Sometimes its willing ignorance which is ignorance fueled by arrogance. And, then again, sometimes it's ignorance that persists because no one cared enough to take the trouble to make sure that ignorance was dispelled with knowledge.

In aviation, as in life, wisdom comes with experience. Without experience wisdom can only come with humility and intelligence.

The OP started this thread looking for purchasing advice, not advice on whether to do it or not. Universally he got the latter not the former.

I hope he is the kind of smart guy that can combine intelligence and humility. My unsolicited advice is to listen to Stan.

Johnathan - I sincerely wish you well, whether you end up flying the MU2 this year or a couple of years from now.

But, gotta admit I am super interested, have you found an insurer willing to underwrite you in this plane? If so, what is the premium and what are the conditions?

Good luck

Tim

Or a Travelair. No better twin to learn in. Smooth, simple, fast, economical and they look great.

I went from a C182 to the Merlin IIIC with a fresh multi. Mike C went from a C210 to a MU2. It can be done obviously. Instrument skills can never be “too good”.

Is there a way to "follow" Stan on BT?

- How do Cirrus train customers to transition from a SR22 to a SF50?

- How do the insurance companies feel about Cirrus’ training program?

(I know the SF50 is single engine, but all of the other considerations noted still apply. And as has also been noted, the MU-2 single engine procedures are very different from piston twins anyway.)

Where’s Mike C when we need him?

IIRC, Allen Wolpert needed 50 hours with a mentor pilot when he upgraded to his Conquest. But he had considerably more experience than the OP.

The transition can be done. I moved from a mooney with 500 hrs. straight to the MU2. Only had 9 hrs of Apache time for the multi rating. I DID take 100 hrs of dual with a high time MU2 pilot. Insurance was pushed through on a 135 cert., where I had the plane leased back. Additionally, I had SIM training 5 times before my first single pilot trip.