Despite an aging fleet that is slowly but steadily shrinking, the Mitsubishi MU-2 twin-turboprop has inspired a passionate group of owners who continue to fly and upgrade their airplanes, attend safety seminars and enjoy the strong support of the Japanese company that manufactured their high-performance airplanes. The MU-2 consistently ranks at the top of the reader rankings for support of turboprops in AIN’s annual Product Support Survey. And every other year, Mitsubishi sponsors the free Pilots Review of Proficiency (PROP) seminars, which are open to anyone and offer safety and operational information for MU-2 operators and maintainers. AIN interviewed two MU-2 pilots, one a new MU-2 buyer and the other a long-time operator, to learn more about their passion for the odd-looking but fast and efficient airplane.
Rob Brooks-New Owner
Rob Brooks bought his 1980 MU-2 Marquise three years ago, after researching the market and considering a single-engine turboprop. “I was a single-engine, commercial, IFR-rated pilot,” he said, “and was thinking of single-engine turbines. I wasn’t motivated to get my multiengine rating.” But at the annual EAA AirVenture show, he met an MU-2 owner and decided that this was the right airplane, in part because he likes to fly by the numbers, he explained, “not seat of the pants.”
Brooks got his multiengine rating but hired professional pilots to fly for the first six months then went for initial MU-2 training at SimCom’s Orlando headquarters.” I walked in with about 60 hours of multiengine time. This was my first experience with any type of simulator training.” Although the simulator is equipped with traditional gauges and avionics, this wasn’t a problem for Brooks. “I learned on six-packs many years ago,” he said. He also owned a Columbia 400 with modern displays, so either type is familiar. After buying the MU-2, he upgraded it with Garmin G500/600 displays and GNS530/430 GPS/navcoms. He also redid the interior, removing a bench and liquor cabinet to add more seats, then had the exterior painted.
Brooks now has more than 250 hours in the MU-2 but still flies with a mentor pilot, primarily because of his high-level of insurance coverage (for personal financial reasons). He regularly attends recurrent training, which is required for all MU-2 pilots by a special FAA regulation (SFAR). In any case, he already was in the habit of regular training when he owned the Columbia 400, but now that he has experienced the MU-2 SFAR training regime, Brooks feels that the FAA should apply it to other airplane types. “I think the industry ought to follow that lead. I think recurrent training in any type of complex airplane is important to safe operation. It doesn’t take a good skill set to fly well when things are going well, it’s when the wheels fall off the cart that you need the backup of training. That’s something I’ll always do.”
Brooks, who bases his MU-2 at Louisa County Airport in Virginia, flies mostly around the eastern U.S. and occasionally to Phoenix, Las Vegas and Texas. He has a partner in the MU-2 who flies the MU-2 on four- to six-leg day trips. “We get a lot of utility out of the airplane,” he said. “For the cost of operating the airplane and the type of missions we fly and where we fly into, it’s a perfect airplane. We don’t do turf landings and nothing shorter than 4,000 feet. It’s a good airplane, it just fits the bill.”
Richard Shine-Long-time Operator
Chief pilot and CEO of Manitoba Corp. Richard Shine has been flying MU-2s since 1981, when his company bought its first MU-2K. His Buffalo, N.Y.-based company had opened an operation in St Louis and needed an efficient way to fly between the two cities. “I had been flying C-130s in the reserves for 11 or 12 years,” he said, “and the MU-2 looked to me like a two-engine C-130.”
After buying the MU-2 “sight unseen,” the salesman flew it to Buffalo, then Shine became the first American to be checked out in the MU-2. In those days, checkouts in new airplanes were less stringent, and Shine admits that he read the manual for a couple of hours then flew about 1.5 hours with the salesman. “This was the short-body MU-2,” he said. “I thought, ‘what the hell have I got myself into?’ It was not easy to get into and go flying. The C-130 is a baby carriage and easy to fly.” But, he added, “by the time I had five hours, I really started to like it, and after 15 to 20 hours I started to love it. It takes training to fly it, but it’s a perfectly safe airplane.”
After downsizing for a few years to a Cessna 421, in 1995 Manitoba Corp. elected to buy a turbine-powered airplane again. “There was no question in my mind that we wanted an MU-2,” Shine said. “We knew we wanted a short-body and started searching. We bought a beautiful Solitaire, and [now] we have had it for 19 years.” Manitoba has flown the Solitaire more than 1,800 hours now and averages about 100 hours a year.
Shine is a big fan of regular training, having been an instructor pilot for the C-130 and C-141 in the Air Force and a pilot examiner. Although the SFAR requires annual training, Shine trains in the MU-2 simulator twice a year. If he hasn’t flown recently, he will fly in the airplane on local training sorties. “That’s costly, but if I don’t get to fly for a while it’s very important. I don’t care what your background is, it’s recency of experience. Maybe good judgment [plays a part], but what have you done for me lately? There’s no substitute for recent experience, flying in the weather, practicing emergencies that are safe in the air or if not, then in the simulator. Try to take advantage of whatever training you can get.”
Shine considers the MU-2 a “very safe airplane, and it’s been proven by the results of the SFAR training.” Since the SFAR was issued in 2008, the MU-2 accident rate has dropped significantly. “You don’t have to have a military background to safely fly this airplane,” he said. “If you do a good job flying a Cessna 172, try to fly with precision, are your own worst critic and take [your critiques] to heart, you’re a good candidate to fly the MU-2. We have people who fly on autopilot all the time and don’t hand-fly. Their skills get rusty, but after the SFAR, that’s why the safety record improved so dramatically.”
The reliability of the MU-2 is also a major factor for Shine. During a recent maintenance visit for unscheduled squawks, the Solitaire needed just some minor items fixed, including some peeling paint and a tip tank that was feeding faster than the other tank. “It’s incredible,” he said. “It just goes and goes and goes.”
Shine appreciates the PROP seminars, too. “The only one I missed was in 1994, but I’ve been to every one since then. I always learn something or relearn something that I may have forgotten, but the social networking is very good, too, What other manufacturer would spend the money Mitsubishi spends? They pay for everything.”
