BeechTalk - BT

Username Protected · **Posted:** 13 May 2017, 17:47

Ok, I picked it up, trained on it, and flew it home. It's absolutely fantastic. A few facts and a pic-

- it's not as fast as my Mits, but it's not far off, although it's not clear it would do as well up high; I bet it slows down a bunch after FL230

- empty weight: 7798 gross weight: 12500

- pressure is nice; 7.0!

It flies nice. It's a piece of cake on one motor. I shut one off on rotation in takeoff config and it climbed out at 700'/minute anyway. I'm impressed.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 13 May 2017, 17:54

Quote:

It flies nice. It's a piece of cake on one motor. I shut one off on rotation in takeoff config and it climbed out at 700'/minute anyway. I'm impressed.

I'm impressed also, I remember two of our pilots in a 3B caging one on take off at Palm Beach, in training. They said until they hit 140 Kts it stayed in ground effect. (1981) Was this your opinion also, or did it climb right out?

Jeff

Username Protected · **Posted:** 13 May 2017, 20:01

Awesome Craig! Are you bringing it to the MU2 fly-in this fall?

Username Protected · **Posted:** 13 May 2017, 20:42

I'll commit to going if you'll commit to getting equally sh!tfaced as me. I can't be that guy again...

Username Protected · **Posted:** 13 May 2017, 21:39

I thought I was that guy.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 13 May 2017, 22:34

Are you being stingy with the pics or did I miss them on another thread?
Sounds like fun!

Username Protected · **Posted:** 14 May 2017, 07:42

Congratulations Craig. Hope your experience with the Merlin is as enjoyable as mine has been.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 14 May 2017, 12:30

Holy cow........that is a lot of range! Congratulations Craig.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 14 May 2017, 13:40

Would it do Hawaii from the west coast?

Username Protected · **Posted:** 14 May 2017, 13:50

More pics are required and quite frankly Craig's lack of photos in his posts represent bad form and moderators should issue demerits or something. We need pictures.....

Username Protected · **Posted:** 14 May 2017, 13:52

Username Protected wrote:

Would it do Hawaii from the west coast?

Honest question. Not sure why the dislike.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 14 May 2017, 14:03

Username Protected wrote:

Would it do Hawaii from the west coast?

Honest question. Not sure why the dislike.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 14 May 2017, 14:32

The range ring made it look close. How close, IDK.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 14 May 2017, 14:37

Username Protected wrote:

I thought I was that guy.

...and this is why we get along.

I'll put up more pics, not trying to be stingy. I'm not really a guy who cares about the look of an airplane, but this one is pretty. More importantly to me- the radar is awesome, must be a BIG dish, it works well at 160NM, and the autopilot is TIGHT; never had one that worked so well.

The Mits short body is a fantastic bird, but if you have a big family, there's no way to beat this. Once you get used to taxiing in it, it's as easy as a Cheyenne. I was greasing it on from landing one, it's just a docile bird.

I liked your post Jim, I don't know why someone would dislike it either.

Username Protected · **Posted:** 14 May 2017, 14:53

Username Protected wrote:

Would it do Hawaii from the west coast?

I've done longer distances than that would be, but the typical 50+ knot headwinds would make Hawaii a no go. No wind or small headwind average would still work. Are times of the year where the winds are more "normal" heading west from CA to Hawaii?

Merlin performance and weights