On a good weather day, leaving early in the morning, a fuel stop in a turbine is pretty much a non-issue. Although it always adds more time to the trip than you would think. Get people out of the plane, and they start wandering around, talking to people, writing e-mails, Tik-Tok-Facebookagramming. The fuel truck may have 2 in front of you, and the line for departure may be 5 deep. So I count on an hour lost if I have to stop with pax.

A fuel stop later in the day.... in bad weather, is not easy. 2 legit briefings, planning for first maybe even second alternates, convection can shut down your preferred fuel stop terminals. Been there and done that.

But I have more experience with this than many, because my plane is sloooow and has really long legs and I routinely fill most or all of my seats on long trips.

To the person, when I offer a stop midway or non-stop, my pax always want non-stop. Even if the trip is very long.

Going to Wally-world. Kids are non-stop for sure

I remember this flight. Had to work the morning, so a late departure. FBO closed at 9PM. If I had to make a fuel stop would have gotten there after FBO closure with no rental car, no bathroom, and some hungry kids. I was 17 minutes late, but they were tracking me, and a jet landing some time behind me was kind enough to pay for call out service anyway.

I usually make my flights to the coast of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, some of our favorite beach destinations non stop. If I am heavy and have to leave too much fuel behind, we will make a stop along the way. Coming back always one stop.

That's my experience, too.


Going east is so much easier, usually decent tail wind.


That's expected. Headwinds are a bummer.

In winter headwinds to the west coast, I usually need a fuel stop. Otherwise, summer or winter going east, non stop.

Mike C.

Show me your spreadsheet.


3 years in, just one for me so far.


Correct. Phase 1-4 (which lasts 3 years) and an ACM overhaul were the major expenses, both have usefulness well past one year.


Exactly. The Mustang mission profile favors trips of 700 nm or less. Not a long range airplane, not a fast airplane. I wonder why people are upset about those statement if they are true?

Mike C.

Mike,

What did you think of the Mustang cockpit?

On a good weather day, leaving early in the morning, a fuel stop in a turbine is pretty much a non-issue. Although it always adds more time to the trip than you would think. Get people out of the plane, and they start wandering around, talking to people, writing e-mails, Tik-Tok-Facebookagramming. The fuel truck may have 2 in front of you, and the line for departure may be 5 deep. So I count on an hour lost if I have to stop with pax.

A fuel stop later in the day.... in bad weather, is not easy. 2 legit briefings, planning for first maybe even second alternates, convection can shut down your preferred fuel stop terminals. Been there and done that.

But I have more experience with this than many, because my plane is sloooow and has really long legs and I routinely fill most or all of my seats on long trips.

To the person, when I offer a stop midway or non-stop, my pax always want non-stop. Even if the trip is very long.

Going to Wally-world. Kids are non-stop for sure

I remember this flight. Had to work the morning, so a late departure. FBO closed at 9PM. If I had to make a fuel stop would have gotten there after FBO closure with no rental car, no bathroom, and some hungry kids. I was 17 minutes late, but they were tracking me, and a jet landing some time behind me was kind enough to pay for call out service anyway.

I usually make my flights to the coast of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, some of our favorite beach destinations non stop. If I am heavy and have to leave too much fuel behind, we will make a stop along the way. Coming back always one stop.

Recent case was pre coolers. They were failing at a high rate and Textron had no stock. Some planes ended up grounded for many months waiting for parts.

A quote from CJP:

"As soon as I am airworthy with this plane I will be switching aircraft, 10-11 months AOG Textron doesn’t care anymore I am furious beyond words."

Buying a Mustang means you live in a special place on the parts ecosystem. Mustang parts are unique, all the planes generally have issues that occur at the same time and create synchronize shortages, and the plane is out of production so new parts aren't not in steady production. It seems Textron is not very good at anticipating what parts will be needed and keeping them in stock.

Every rose has its thorns.

Chip knows this about the Mustang despite his endorsement, he tried to find these pre coolers for a client and failed.

Mike C.

Are you on any programs?

PowerAdvantage, ProParts, ProTech, etc?

Or are you operating "naked"?

Mike C.

Recent case was pre coolers. They were failing at a high rate and Textron had no stock. Some planes ended up grounded for many months waiting for parts.

Chip knows this about the Mustang despite his endorsement, he tried to find these pre coolers for a client and failed.

Mike C.

Are you on any programs?

PowerAdvantage, ProParts, ProTech, etc?

Or are you operating "naked"?

Mike C.

The Mustang pre coolers are not the same PN as the 525 series, so they were unique to the Mustang.


Not nearly as bad. The 525 series has a longer production run, more parts were made, more used parts were available, and the fleet part demand wasn't so concentrated due to Mustangs being made over a fairly sort number of years.

Being unique is nice, but it comes with issues.

Mike C.

The Mustang pre coolers are not the same PN as the 525 series, so they were unique to the Mustang.


Not nearly as bad. The 525 series has a longer production run, more parts were made, more used parts were available, and the fleet part demand wasn't so concentrated due to Mustangs being made over a fairly sort number of years.

Being unique is nice, but it comes with issues.

Mike C.

I don’t have time for this either, but in a fun little exercise pulling the precooler pn’s from my traxxall maintenance tracking program.

The 525 (CJ/CJ1) is - 9914402-6 Total models produced: 557
The 525A (CJ2/CJ2+) is 9914402-04 Total Models Produced: 465

They produced 478 Mustangs

So they actually have less aircraft (CJ2/CJ2+) with a unique part requirement than the Mustang.

And yes, in 2016-2018 when this SB hit the 525 series there was a massive backup on precoolers.

Thanks Corey, you are a gentleman and a scholar! It takes a lot of work to correct all of the inaccurate information being shared on Beechtalk and I appreciate the help!

And if I'm not mistaken, it's the same precooler for the Phenom 100 series, so that's another 401 airplanes.

It's sounds like there are more "Mustang" precoolers than just about anything else.

In stock.


In stock.

The 525 SB situation was never as dire as the Mustang one. Vendors selling current production parts for the 525 as far more proactive than resurrecting stuff they haven't made in a decade.

If you buy a Mustang, you are in a different ecosystem when it comes to parts. A lot of stuff is unique versus much of the 500 or 525 line.

Mike C.