Hello BeechTalk:

This is my first post and I am excited to be a part of the discussions on BeechTalk. I started flying in 1982 and have about 14,000 hours now, I mostly fly Fixed Wings but I am also a Chopper pilot. As a graduate of Parks College I knew at a young age I was hooked on Aviation and have spent my entire working career buying/selling and flying light aircraft.

I have owned hundreds of Bonanzas and Barons in my Aircraft Sales career and even though I sell a lot of other types of planes I remain a die-hard, die-in-the-Wool Beech lover. Currently I own three A36's that I keep busy in a Lease fleet of aircraft, one of which has inspired me to become more vocal with this group because of the nature of its current lease.

N367HP is leased to Allen and Matt Guthmiller (Father/Son) out of South Dakota, Matt is currently a student at MIT and intends to Fly Solo in N367HP around the world this June and become the youngest pilot to ever do this at age 19.

After seriously considering the pros and cons of sending a young lad around the world in my plane I decided to meet Matt and then make my decision. Matt is incredibly bright, a very good pilot both stick and IFR and I believe he will do this without a hitch. After spending time with Matt I realize why his Father is so proud of him, Matt is a rare personality and someone you will hear more about in the future.

I would like to start a thread on this adventure and get input from other pilots on the forum that have experience in this type of flying. I think there are several major topics to cover: route, equipment, pilot considerations, safety gear, and the plane itself. I have owned N367HP for about 15 years, it is a fantastic plane and after its current refurbishment and updating I think you will all be impressed and delighted with the equipment Matt will be playing with on his adventure.

Cheers to Matt and All of You!

Michael C. Borden
High Performance Aircraft, Inc.
San Diego, CA

Hi Mike,

Welcome to the forums!

Ed

Welcome Mike, great to see you here! I feel like I know you I've been reading your ads for so long, you've had quite an inventory of Beech airplanes over the years.

Greetings, Mike!

Glad to see you on this forum. With your high-time flying and ownership experiences, I'm sure that you will be a wealth of information.

Regarding your query about the around-the-world trip information, I would suggest that you contact Babar Suleman (a member of Beechtalk and frequent poster). He and his son are also planning an around-the-world adventure this summer. Just type his name into the member search to get into direct contact with him. I believe that he has already posted his planned trip log on here somewhere that I've seen.

Good luck to you and especially to Matt as he heads off on such an awe-inspiring trip!

Welcome Mike!
You certainly have a lot of experience, wow!

Welcome to BT Mike!

Nice looking plane!!!

It's about time you showed up here Mike! Welcome to BT!!

Mike sold me N6641C many years ago. I had been using it for a number of years for family hauling, and it was getting pretty beat up by my (then-young) kids. One day, he happened to be at Torrance airport and saw it parked on the ramp. He looked inside and saw the fabulously neglected vintage 1979 cloth ratty interior, called me and basically said, "BLECCH! That looks like sh!t." (He also tried to sell me a Piper Matrix at that point, haha.)

It was that "Blech" comment that got me to start refurbishing it. You should see what I have done to her Mike!

Mike, glad to see you on BT. Isn't that the plane we were just flying a few weeks ago? Looking forward to the round the world adventure.

Jamie, Great to hear I was an inspiration....Please share some pics of your plane, I would love to see it now! By the way that must have been early 90's when you purchased that beauty!

Steve Scates, you won't believe N367HP, it was nice, it's going to be downright amazing when we finish it next week. Come down from your cool simulator and lets go shoot a fully coupled LPV.....

John, compared to some guys I have met I am a greenhorn, Thanks!

Keith, thanks - I am going to post some progress photos, techs are telling me done this Monday. Very excited.

Hello Perrin and Ed!

Looks great Mike! Can't wait to see the finished product

Matt