Playin' With T-storms in the MU2

[CorporateAv8r]

It was race day at Dover Downs here in Delaware and I was working the office at the local FBO, to make some extra money. We must have had 30 jets and commuter aircraft on the ramp belonging to the race teams. A couple of my buddies are in a partnership in an Mitsubishi MU2 (long body) and one of the owners (a very experienced pilot) was in the FBO. They had just purchased an old 30,000 sq' hanger and were spending a lot of time cleaning it up. I was talking to him and asked him if he was doing any flying that day. He said he was taking his wife and daughter over to BWI to catch a flight to AZ. I asked if I could ride a long and he said no problem. He picked me up at 6 and we drove over. I hadn't looked at the weather and it looked nice to me. Turned out it was the first BIG thunder storm for the NE. Level 5 and 6's were about 10 miles to the NW of BWI as we lifted the fully loaded MU2 off the runway. Turned on the radar and saw absotlutly nothing but red and yellow. I he looked over at me and said,"Holy shit Alex, what are we supposed to do?" Of course he was just playin around. It was race day so Dover approch was crammed full of people trying to get clearences so we departed VFR and picked up IFR with Patuxen. Flew around a lot of little cells and then we saw the big one. Now it was only 2 miles NW of the airport and most flights had just shut down on the taxi way. But hey, we still have time to get in. So we fly the visual for 10, then the wind (like steady at 20) changes to 330, so 33L, over to 280. We turn final for 28 get wind shear alerts and I'm a little worried, but I have complete confidence in Jack. He makes one of the nicest damn landings I've ever felt. We taxi down RWY 4 to Signiture and shut down. Jacks wife, step daughter and their friends jump in the van to the terminal as me and Jack walkn into the FBO. About 15 feet from the door it starts pissing down rain. I take off in a sprint and so does Jack. We get in and lightning is every where. I look out the window and watch the tower get struck. I look over at Jack and say," You ready to roll?" He starts laughing and says, "Hey look, free ice cream." Signiture had 6 different types of ice cream there for the pilots and 4 different types of coffee, and pop corn. It's now around 7 and Jack says we'll be there till atleast 10 till it clears up enough for us to get home, Remember it's now moving straight towards home, so we'd have to fly through it. He decides to treat me to dinner and we go to this great Italian place, and both get big Steaks and free salads and bread sticks. Get back to the airport and watch some movie with a couple Falcon Capts. waiting for thier hotel van. At around 8 we watch cops then at 9 we watch Americas Most Wanted then finally we hop in the airplane and go home. It's a nice flight home, weather had gotten a little low but no T storms. We fly the VOR to 4 at GED then make a nice landing and put 'er away. I get home at around 11 pm. Next morin' I'm up at 5am. to work at the FBO. Boy I love that type of life style........

[LRJet Guy]

Boy I love that type of life style........

You must be still new to the game.... :D

I had something similar happen ages ago when flying as a fill in airplane for a Flight Express run. The routing was HSV-TUP-GTR-HKS-MLU-JAN-BHM-MEM-BHM-HSV. If you didn't screw around on the ground and the couriers were at the airport on time, you ended up putting in a full 10 hour duty day, and flew the full 8 hours. The flights down to HKS were full of cancelled checks, fly empty to MLU, then pick up medical specimines for the rest of the night. Always nice flying with all the stuff behind you.

Report time at HSV was 1400 or so, and we got back home around 0200.

The first part of the night was uneventful, but when we got to BHM, a squall line was in between us and MEM. We decided to repo the airplane back to HSV and put it in the hangar. I remember seeing a nice lightshow on the way up, and we barely beat the rain into HSV. The Signature folks saw us coming in and 3 lineguys had us pushed into the hangar before we could get out of the airplane.

After an extra 2 hour wait for weather and watching a funnel cloud go by the airport, we completed the run. Got in bed at 0500 that morning...

Surprisingly, Flight Express was happy that we put the airplane in the hangar rather than leave it out on the ramp somewhere full of their cargo. It wasn't even their airplane. Just their freight.

[CorporateAv8r]

9 legs is pretty impresive, was that trip done daily (or nightly)? I'm guessing it was done in the Lear?

[LRJet Guy]

We did it in a C337 Skymaster. The route was usually flown with a Baron.

Flight Express flew the trip every weekday, and still does. We flew it when their Baron broke. It turns out it was easier for them to call us that move another airplane up to fly the route. The regular pilot got to take those days off, hopefully with pay.

On one of the trips, he rode with us on the first few legs of the trip to get to his now fixed airplane. Those were good trips. Lots of flying, and well structured. They even had a scheduled dinner break in there. Also, I was flying with my best friend and we were having a blast telling jokes and such.

[uy707]

Thanks for you two CorporateAv8r and LRJet Guy for the reports which show real aviation occuring around and with pretty rare aircrafts, especially the Mitsubishi MU2 Marquise (?) as bonuses. :smilewin:
Regards
Alain

[LRJet Guy]

The company used to work for was going to lease a long bodied MU2 until a better deal came with the Lear 24. All my weather stories (well most anyway) come from when I was flying a C337. We put that airplane through hell. I've been through turbulence so bad in that thing I knocked a tach cable loose, got a large bruise from the shoulder harness, and had to divert.

The coolest thing I've ever seen from the air wa overflying some thunderstorms over Las Vegas from FL410 in a Lear 25. It was after midnight, and the cells were quite active giving an incredible light show.

AV8R has a great story above as well, and from a PM conversation I've had with him, he'll have many more to share over time. We've got a good addition to the boards with this guy!

[AJ]

Good to hear the Hiroshima Screamer / Kerosene Crowbar is still up and running in the States.

Just BTW, there are a quite a few variants of the 'long body' Mu-2, I would imagine the souped up Marquise is the one you flew in?

[CorporateAv8r]

Good to hear the Hiroshima Screamer / Kerosene Crowbar is still up and running in the States.

You left out "rice rocket" :lol:


Just BTW, there are a quite a few variants of the 'long body' Mu-2, I would imagine the souped up Marquise is the one you flew in?

MU-2B-36 is the one I flew, that the souped up one?

[AJ]

From memory the -36 is an 'L' model (Mu-2L), not quite the ultimate Marquise.

[LRJet Guy]

MU2B-60 is the rocket powered MU2. That has the -10 engines on it (1000 per side I think). There are retrofits available for most, if not all MU2s out there for those engines though.

Next time you go fly with that guy in the MU2, ask him to show you a short field landing. When you get on the binders hard and reverse the piss out them it will throw you through the windshield. You can land that airplane in places you can't get it back out. I was sitting on a couch seat right behind the cockpit when our demo pilot did that and I faceplanted into the bulkhead sideways....

Haven't heard the term "Kerosene Crowbar" before... If you're talking about the Lear, you're right on. It burns lots of fuel and will come down quicker than a recovering heroine addict with the power off and some drag out there. That airplane is so much fun to fly!!

With RVSM coming up here in the US, the skies will be getting a little quieter. Those old Lears are very expensive to certify, and most will probably be parked at the end of the year. Get all the pictures you can now. I would bet imagine there will be very few 20 series in the air. The only Sabreliners around will be 40A, 65, and a few 80s. The 40 and 60 are still being toyed with to see if they can be certified. Old Jet Commanders will dissapear. Basically, if it has turbojets on it, its pretty well dead.

Also, those noisy takeoffs from G2s and 3s will be gone when the noise rules come in.

Enjoy and take pictures while you still can, there's only 10 months left. :roll:

[uy707]

Good to hear the Hiroshima Screamer / Kerosene Crowbar is still up and running in the States.

Just BTW, there are a quite a few variants of the 'long body' Mu-2, I would imagine the souped up Marquise is the one you flew in?

Thanks AJ for enabling me in adding two nicknames in my collection
More seriously, thanks you all for flying and operational infos on a pretty rare bird.
Regards
Alain

[uy707]

Already gone in France and probably the EEC
-Lear Jet 24s
-Sabreliners (used to be a couple registered in Italy)
-Jet Commanders (in fact practically never hit the runways here)
-home-built MS.760 Paris
dwindling populations
-Viper powered HS.125s
-early Falcon 10s and 20s
rare birds locally, always
-MU.2
-AeroCommanders, whichever type :(
List goes on
Regards
Alain

[LRJet Guy]

There aren't many Sabreliners around anywhere. They didn't build all that many to start with that weren't military.

I think the last time I saw a Jet Commander was at HOU this last summer. There aren't many of those old birds around anymore. I see a bunch of Westwinds and Galaxys though.

We don't have many 20 series Lears that aren't freight haulers or set up for air ambulance. I did see a nice 25 that was owned by a Lexus dealer in St. Louis though. Airplanes like that are just too fuel hungry, and with RVSM coming up, are going to be difficult to operate.

Another one we don't see many of over here are Lockheed Jetstars. I've seen 4 or 5 this year, one still had the JT12 turbojets on it, but it was Mexican registered, and just passing through.

[CorporateAv8r]

Ah the Jetstar :clap: The last company I flew with had a Jetstar II and a Merlin IIIB, talk about a rare fleet. I only flew in the Jetstar once or twice though.

Speaking of RVSM, it'll make our Citation a million times better. It doesn't even have a GPS in it now, just Loran :(

Here she is.
http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=236049

[LRJet Guy]

Yep, Jetstars are very cool. If I could find a job flying one, or a larger bizjet I'd stay there for life.

So are they going to get that Citation RVSM certified, or just keep it below 290? Most older jets aren't valuable enough to certify, and that thing is no spring chicken.

LORAN! Step into the '90s there pal! :D I didn't know the LORAN chain was still commissioned. I haven't flown with one in a few years now, and I remember a lot of talk that the system was going to dissapear now that GPS is as reliable as it is. The one I flew with was a marine LORAN that had somehow gotten FAA approval, and IFR on top of that. It had to be programmed like an INS. You had to name your fixes, and then define them with lat and long. It wouldn't automatically switch grids either. You had to do that yourself. The thing came with a map to show you where the boundaries were. Crazy stuff!

[CorporateAv8r]

I hope they get it RVSM certified. But the CP had Challenger and Citation III ads on his desk yesterday :clap: We have a similar or the same system you're talking about. The thing kinda quits half way to FL over the Atlantic. :P

[CorporateAv8r]

Here are a few pics of her.


It's got a great cabin, one of the nicest turbo props I've been in.
http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=241754

You can't see it, but it has a Garmin 430 b/t the pilot seats.
http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=241755

And here she is on a brand new hanger floor.
http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=241757

[LRJet Guy]

Good looking bird. I just went up to Smyrna yesterday to drop off a guy so he could pick up a Mits. If you've never been there, MQY is probably the Mits capital of the world. Corporate Flight Management works on them, Carpenter Avionics does the avionics work on them, and Reese Howell has his school there for the MU2.

If you get a trip down there with the airplane let me know and I'll try to cruise up there and hang for a bit.

[CorporateAv8r]

That would be pretty cool, never been there. They have a CJ2 on order which should be comming from Cessna in late June, so I doubt I'll get the chance to go down there. :( Unless they sell MU2's down there.

[flyingbosshog]

Ahh the good old jetstar.....
I see those all of the time sitting outside of the hangars at Newcastle County International Airport :lol: :lol: . It is nice to know that the corperate flying scene in DE is still alive and kicking!!!!!!

[CorporateAv8r]

Check out the MU2's and King Airs in the link below and see more corporate action here at GED, good to see a fellow Delawarian on the site. I think Jetstar at ILG is the one I've "flown" (more like rode) in. Are you learning to fly at ILG?

[AJ]

That is one neat little Widow Maker!

After a series of fatal crashes in Australia the Mu-2 was relegated to freight hauling, so the best interiors had aluminium cladding and cargo nets! I used to fly Mu-2Gs, Js and Ns all around the East Coast and over to Adelaide, and I loved almost every minute of it!

Please excuse the scan, but this was my favourite steed, an Mu-2B-30(G) VH-WMW. She's survived a few gear-ups and a collision with a Metroliner (on the ground), and has headed back to the States. That's me in the left seat:
<IMG SRC=http://www.jetphotos.net/user-uploads/VH-WMWSmall.jpg>

There is only one Mitsu left in Australia, a U.S. registered K model in Melbourne/Essendon. Very sad.

[LRJet Guy]

Kinda blows there's only one left over there in Australia. The reputation that aircraft has is an undeserved one. All you need is proper training in the aircraft and a head on your shoulders. True for anything.

Mitsubishi also has excellent support for the aircraft. They sent a bunch of execs over here a few years ago and met with some of the larger operators of the MU2 to find out how things were going, and what they could do to make things run even smoother. Parts are good supply for the aircraft as well since Mitsubishi still makes almost everything needed to keep them flying.

Unfortunately, the one my friend flies will be sold soon in favor of a King Air 350. They've run out of depreciation on the Mits, so it no longer makes sense to keep it.

[CorporateAv8r]

It'll be a shame to see this one go, but the CJ2 will be a nice airplane when they get it. I did meet a guy with a -60 at MTN who said I could fly with him whenever I felt like it, so maybe I'll get some time in that.