Congratulations. The F-Model is a fantastic airplane. It's a very active airplane meaning that every input requires subsequent inputs. Trim sensitive more so than any other plane I have flown. Its easy to fly if you keep it trimmed. It provides noticeable feedback when its not happy. Enjoy and provide lots of pireps and pictures.

Congrats on the purchase! I considered that airplane, but wound up with a Marquise. I've been trying to finish my training with Howell for a few weeks now as my squat switch went haywire when I went to start the engines on my phase check so I had to postpone it for a couple weeks. Everyone at Howell has absolutely bent over backwards to help me and accommodate my schedule, so you're in wonderful hands for your training. I'm flying with Jerry tomorrow to finish out the 25 hours of dual to meet my insurance requirements and then I'm homeward bound. Mike Ciholas' input over the years was instrumental in my purchase decision as well. Chuck Walton has worked on these things forever and has an impressive inventory of spares on hand. Mark Cobb at Fayetteville Aviation in Fayetteville, TN is a great resource as well. It's definitely an airplane you have to be properly introduced to, but I like the airplane a lot after getting a little time in the seat!

So you met the somewhat illustrious Bill Austin then, I quite enjoyed him.

Bill introduced me to Mark Cobb as well. I agree there is lots of resources out there, which is reassuring when buying a 50 year old plane.

I will work James Drexler for training as he could accommodate me prior to Jerry Adcock, although I might use Howell for 1 year recurrence as I enjoyed flying with Jerry, he seems to know the MU2 really well.

Hilgard

Congrats. That's a lot kts per $ !

So you met the somewhat illustrious Bill Austin then, I quite enjoyed him.

Bill introduced me to Mark Cobb as well. I agree there is lots of resources out there, which is reassuring when buying a 50 year old plane.

I will work James Drexler for training as he could accommodate me prior to Jerry Adcock, although I might use Howell for 1 year recurrence as I enjoyed flying with Jerry, he seems to know the MU2 really well.

Hilgard

I miss my K model also & the group at Howell’s. The training with Jerry was some of the best I ever had .

I completed my training on the F model last week.

My background includes 2600 total time, with about 900 hours in a 421B, 1000 hours in a P210, and the rest in a mixture of GA planes, including 40 hours of taildragger time in a beloved Cessna 140. I fly weekly, accumulating about 200 hours a year, almost always IFR, which is an absolute necessity for flying a plane like this. Starting training in a MU2 is not the time to begin honing your IFR skills.

The MU2 is harder to fly than a 421B (provided nothing in the 421 fails, which happened often, trust me). However, it is not insurmountable. I would compare it to flying a taildragger—you have to be actively involved with the plane, and it will tell you if you are off-speed or if your technique is slipping. I flew 90% of time without the autopilot, just to get used to the handling of the plane.
I worked with a MU2 instructor who is an ex-MU2 freight pilot with 12,000 hours in type. I highly recommend him, as he really knows and understands the MU2.

We operated out of Fargo, ND, where the weather was IFR most of the week, so I got pretty good at hand-flying on analog instruments again. Our days started with ground school in the morning, and most days we flew about 6-8 hours afterward. Usually we would fly to an area out West to get to VMC, really easy when you can go around 250kts.

We filled up at airports with CAA pricing, which is a delight—average fills ranged around $800-$1,000. The best price was $3.50 per gallon of JetA. Due to the higher price of 100LL, the average fill-up cost was less than the 421, whereas the P210 usually ran around $400-$700.

In 2016, I flew about 10 hours in a MU2 with various instructors, and this past week, I added another 28 hours in the MU2. I am of average skill, and I would say after 20 hours, I began to feel comfortable in the plane. As others have said, the plane is sensitive to trim, and you have to trim after every power adjustment. However, once you get used to that, it quickly becomes second nature, and you learn to trim it in various configurations so that it can be flown hands-off. Coming from recent P210 time, the attitude on the MU2 during landing/flaring is nose-low. I tended to flare too much after crossing the numbers, which lead to a very nose high attitude causing the nose wheel to come down abruptly. I would say this was the hardest part for me to overcome.

The more I flew this plane, the more I LOVED it. It really draws you back after every flight. This week, I haven't flown it, and I'm starting to sense some serious MU2 withdrawal symptoms.

The engine start sequence is somewhat complicated at first. However, once you understand the function of the NTS/Beta-light, it becomes a non-issue. My batteries were last replaced in 2021, and we did 2/3 battery starts with no issue. My engines seem to start really cool, and the worry about a hot start soon disappears. We had one hung start, likely due to a gust of wind from aft, and that was good to experience; simply pull the condition lever back to Emergency stop, let it cool down, and repeat the start once the EGT is below 200. I also clipped the Run-Crank-Stop switch into Stop instead of Crank on one shutdown, and the prop ended up not stopping on the prop locks but feathered—again, a non-issue to place it back on the prop lock from feather position. It's useful reading about this but having it happen for real actually cements it pretty well into memory.

Single-engine work was easy; again, trim is important after every power AND airspeed change. But once trimmed, it is easy to fly, and turning gently into the dead engine is a non-issue. The F model does not climb great on one engine, I would say only 2-300ft/minute, still better than a P210 with an engine out though.

As far as performance goes, we only pushed it to max recommended cruise EGT on one flight and saw ~270kts TAS at 15,000 ft, with fuel flow around 68-70 GPH. On another flight at 21,000 ft, I saw 243kts TAS with fuel flow at ~58 GPH. I would call this an economy setting. We probably could have pushed it up to 255kts if I went to the EGT cruise limit. The -1 engines are mostly EGT-limited except for the first 1,000-2,000 feet after takeoff, where you can exceed the torque limits.

Training was going well, and by Thursday, both my instructor and I felt that I was ready to be signed off. We decided to do one more day of training, with a focus on short field work. I was planning to fly it home on Saturday….

Edited to put the pictures upright.

On Friday, we did some short field work out of ~4,000-foot airstrips, which is similar to my home field. After three landings and getting it comfortably stopped in 2000ft, we departed back to Fargo.

Climbing out through 2,000 ft, we felt the Left engine surge—perhaps for 10-20 seconds—and then it returned to normal. Torque decreased and then picked up again. EGT, RPM, fuel flow, oil temp, and pressure were normal. About 30 seconds later it happened again—the ignition light came on, this time torque decreased, EGT, RPM, and fuel flow were normal, but oil pressure started decreasing. So we feathered the engine and flew back single-engine.

We flew back VFR around 5-6000ft and landed without issue.

On the ground, we could see an oil leak just aft of the prop hub, with oil having drained in flight. The engine turns fine on the ground, and I am waiting for Jet Air to come and pull the engine, after which we will ship it to Arkansas for inspection. I have sent them pictures, and they suspect it is simply a seal that broke, causing the oil leak. They too hope that there is no damage to the engine or gearbox; however, we will only know once they have opened up the engine for inspection.

I debated about posting this, but since I opened the door by starting this thread I thought I should give the entire picture.

Welcome to turbine ownership, I guess! Below is an inflight picture, this time with shut down for real, not sure if I am smiling or crying

Holy smokes Hilgard, hoping for a speedy and cost effective, simple fix for your engine.

Sounds like a fun and effective training evolution; thanks for sharing.

Keep us posted on your motor…fingers crossed for you.

I appreciate the fact that you posted. I love the MU2 and am eager to learn more about it.
Please keep us informed of what is found (even if painful).

Congrats and condolences. I have been having the itch for a turbine but this exact scenario keeps playing in my head. Hope it’s something simple and they get you going again soon.

That was a Great Write Up Hilgard, Many of Us only get to Dream about riding in a MU2, forget about Flying in one

I've thought they were one of the Coolest Planes on the Planet, ever since my Dad parked next to one on the Ramp.....Felts Field, Spokane WA about 1974.....it belonged to Roy Clark

Thank You again Hilgard........if you ever need any ballast?

Honestly I am not too concerned. If this was the 421 I knew it would be a $60-100k event. I expect this will be way under that.

I am thankful this happened with the instructor onboard, it might have taken me a minute or two longer to shut down and feather then engine, by then I am sure there would have been serious damage. Furthermore it drove home to me that an engine out in these planes are a non-event.

So even if I end up spending $30-40K on the engine repair, I am still into this for less money than my P210's insurance payout, yet I have more than double the capability.

So come on in, the water is warm.

Hilgard

https://www.trade-a-plane.com/search?ca ... e=aircraft

I highly suggest buying this thing for the Engines.

Wow, a Merlin with -1 engines, that thing must be a dog climbing out on one engine!

Thanks, you got me thinking...

Hilgard