Everyone keeps asking, but then...nothing.

Publication ban? Media blackout? Fake news?




Enquiring minds want to know.

Does that mean the mu-2 will be for sale?

No time to write this all up in full detail, that will come later.

I bought a Citation V in the frenzy that was the used airplane market end of last year. The purchase story is a bit crazy, plane was sold 3 times in 9 days, had been sold only 2 times in the prior 29 years before that.

So far my total ownership experience has been one 45 minute flight as a passenger where the brake motor failed on landing. No great excitement, manual braking works well enough without it, just something to fix already.

For those keeping score, percentage of flights where repairs are not needed afterward:

MU2: 99.7%
C560V: 0.0%

I hope that improves.

Now it is in for panel overhaul (at the airport it broke down, no less), full Garminization including dual G700, dual GTN 570, GWX 75, etc. Due out end of Feb. Decided I didn't want to spool up on the old stuff, so get rid of it all now.

Sometimes, perspective hits you unexpectedly. My MU2 aircraft logs, 46 years worth, fit in one 8 inch deep case. My C560V logs, 29 years worth, take 4 huge plastic crates 3 ft on a side and weigh a combined 200 lbs. A single phase 5 inspection could fill a 3 inch binder. Hmm.

Type class March 8th at FSI, Atlanta, C550 sim with V differences, FSI is decommissioning their V sim. Then 50 hours mentoring. Then SPE at FSI.

I will soon have a plane for sale. Remains to be seen which one. It will probably be the MU2. There will definitely be some things I will miss about the MU2 besides the obvious economic advantages.

Usually when you buy a new plane the old one gets annoyed and starts acting up. So far the MU2 has been fine, like always. I do MU2 recurrent this week, too, so I'll be getting a lot of training in the next few weeks.

Mike C.

Congratulations, you've paid the cover charge to get in the door.


Unfortunately, the lap dances are extra.

Fantastic. Congrats. Looking forward to the full write up. Jet threads are great.

Brake motor is a hydraulic booster or an antiskid actuator or something else entirely?

Got one better for ya

Hydraulic pump that supplies primary pressure to the brake system.

Relay that turns on the motor was defective, so a simple fix.

Motor is upper right corner.

I got to study all this anyway, just wanted to do it on my terms.

Mike C.

Congrats Mike. The jet will cost more and break more. And will be a better traveling machine. I loved my Mu2 but smoother, quieter, faster doesn’t take long to get used to.

A friend just bought an Ultra and loves it. Very cool planes.

I've come to believe reliability is as important as knots. If I can't make the jet reliable enough to depend on, then it doesn't matter how fast it goes. A jet sitting in the shop has a cruise speed of zero.

I think the V can be a very reliable machine or I wouldn't have bought it. I just removed almost all the avionics and instruments, a major source of reliability problems, so that will help.

I had them pull every useless thing in the airplane I could think of. My philosophy is to have a smaller set of reliable stuff and get rid of a bunch of marginally useful stuff. No ADF, no DME, no HF provisions, etc. The removed equipment added up to 320 lbs! And this doesn't account for the removed wires yet, that is just the boxes and trays.

Only original stuff I have left is the SPZ 500 autopilot. If/when Garmin gets the GFC 600 STC for the V, I can get rid of 7 more boxes an replace it with one, probably another 80-100 lbs removed.

I'm glad I don't have an Ultra. The Primus 1000 and the JT15D-5D engines are significant cost adders. The Primus 1000 prevents using G700 screens, and thus you don't save the weight and retain one of the least reliable parts of the airplane.

Mike C.

Mike,

Curious why the 15-5D engines add cost?

Obviously HT blades are more expensive, is there something else?

Time to start saving my pennies and hoping ...

HT blades are both more expensive and don't last nearly as long.

Full set of HT blades for -5D is $370,000. Used ones are unavailable as the -5D blades are unique to this variant. They tend to last 1.5 OH periods from what I gather. The -5D runs hotter which is how they get more power from it, and that wears out the blades more.

Full set of HT blades for -5A (which, BTW, are the same as many other models) is less than half the -5D blades and they tend to last about double the time, maybe more. There are also a boat load of used -5A blades out there, so you can probably find economical ways to fly without buying brand new ones.

So the HT blades are about 5 times the cost per flight hour on the -5D as the -5A. Net result is about $150/hour JUST FOR HT BLADES on the -5D. Ouch!

I do like the Ultra performance with just that little bit more thrust, but the HT blade issue and the Primus 1000 screen issue are big turn offs to me.

Mike C.

I must be taking my plane to the wrong shop.

Or maybe you are.

Mike C.

I must be taking my plane to the wrong shop.

Or maybe you are.

Mike C.

The V was my front runner in legacy citations for the same reason - you can replace all the avionics. The Garmin AP would have it over the top (of the CJ2). The SPE was a detractor - but I enjoy additional training most of the time.

Does the V have freon AC? I sure enjoyed having it in the CJ2 in AZ.