I’m just finishing up transition training for the Piper Malibu Mirage airplane down in Vero Beach, Florida. Vero Beach is the home of New Piper Aircraft, manufacturer of the Malibu, and is located on the SE Atlantic coast of Florida, halfway between Cape Canaveral and Miami/Ft. Lauderdale.
The Malibu is interesting because it is a personal airplane that actually can do most of the things that non-pilots believe any personal airplane ought to be able to do. Imagine telling Joe Random that you own a small airplane. He will imagine that this machine could get you from any place in the U.S. to any other place within a day or two. Joe’s imagination would conjure up an airplane that could fly through clouds, fly above the clouds, keep the occupants comfortable inside, and not inflict too much noise on the passengers. An actual small airplane, e.g., a brand new $250,000 Cessna 172 or $400,000 Piper Saratoga (JFK, Jr’s plane), can’t do any of these things. A basic airplane will have a basic piston engine that loses power the higher one climbs into the thin air of high altitudes, which contains fewer molecules of oxygen for combustion per unit volume. Thus the little Cessna, for example, goes slower and slower as it climbs higher until finally it is using almost all of its feeble power to climb rather than to move forward. A 172 isn’t practical to operate above about 14,000′. Clouds typically extend up to around 20,000′ and therefore the Cessna is condemned to fly through the clouds rather than above them.
What’s wrong with flying through the clouds? In the summer the clouds contain embedded thunderstorms that can make an airplane impossible to control and it is difficult for a cloud-bound pilot to avoid those thunderstorms because one can’t see out of a cloud. In the winter the clouds contain ice that alters the airfoil and weighs down the airframe to the point that the airplane doesn’t have enough power to hold altitude. At all times of year clouds are typically bumpier than the air above the clouds. A small plane can still get you places but you may have to wait many days for hazardous weather to clear. Even with the best weather the average small plane is incredibly noisy, is unpressurized so passengers are exposed to the discomforts of breathing thin air or having an oxygen system stuck up their noses, and has no air conditioning.
The Piper Malibu has two turbochargers attached to its engine, making a total of 350 horsepower nearly up to its service ceiling of 25,000′. This is high enough to get above most clouds most of the time. Bleed air from the turbos is fed into the cabin for pressurization. Two heaters cope with the -40 C temps at altitude while an air conditioner keeps folks cool closer to the ground. At 25,000′ it is so cold that the air isn’t capable of holding much water and therefore the risk of accumulating ice is minimal. However, one might have to climb up or descend down through an icing layer and therefore the Malibu comes with a heated propeller, some heated sensors for the instruments, and rubber boots on the leading edges of the wings and tail. These rubber boots can be inflated by the pilot to crack ice off.
Basically the Malibu does everything that a jet-powered airplane does without the fuel consumption of a jet or the high initial cost of a jet (the same airframe is available with a jet engine driving a propeller; it is called a Piper Meridian and is about $700,000 more than the Malibu). Introduced in 1984 only about 1000 have been built, including jet-powered versions. It is difficult to get insurance for the Malibu because so many have been crashed. These crashes fall into two categories: (a) pushing weather, and (b) mechanical failure. Because the airplane is so capable guys attempt getting through ice and around thunderstorms in a way that would never occur to them in a simpler airplane. Because the airplane is so complex it is prone to failures that are simply not possible in a basic airplane. If either turbocharger fails, for example, the engine oil can leak out and the engine will stop. My old Diamond Star didn’t have turbochargers, by comparison. The Malibu does what an airliner does but without the redundancy. So you have to be prepared to land the airplane in a field or on a road. Because of these accidents the insurance companies require professional training before writing a policy.
Half of the training involves ground school in which one learns as much as possible about all of the airplane’s systems, e.g., the hydraulic pump and lines that drive the landing gear up and down. This is important in case you’re flying around and the landing gear won’t come down or the magic three green lights that indicate “down and locked” won’t come on. This actually happened to me a few times in the last two weeks. Twice I put the gear lever down and nothing happened. It turned out that the hydraulic pump circuit breaker had popped. One, after a 6.5-hour flight at high altitude, I put the gear down and only two of the three lights went on. A little in-the-air debugging and the last light lit up but the gear might have been down all the time and the switch frozen.
Most of the flight training involves the student wearing special googles or a hood that obscures everything except the instruments on the panel. This simulates instrument meteorological conditions (IMC), which is where things tend to get challenging. My instructor was Ron Cox, former head of training for Piper Aircraft and then Simcom and previously a helicopter pilot in Vietnam. Ron covered up all the instruments with a chart and had me do some turns climbs and descents purely by feel. “Now you’re JFK, Jr.,” he noted (kind of odd that JFK, Jr. is the canonical example of a confused pilot even among long-time aviation nerds), and whisked the chart away. I was supposed to be straight and level. My body was uncertain as to its orientation relative to gravity. The instruments showed the airplane in a steep climbing turn, an “unusual attitude” that needed to be corrected with a combination of throttle and yoke. Many hours were spent doing instrument approaches to various airports on Florida’s Atlantic coast. An instrument approach involves flying to a specified point in space and then flying a specified path in three dimensions down to a point where the pilot either sees the runway or executes a “missed approach” procedure by climbing up and proceeding to a published holding position and driving the airplane around in ovals.
Because so many Malibu engines have quit in flight, a great emphasis is placed on practicing engine failures in the clouds. You wear the hood and the instructor pulls back the throttle and you have to figure out if there are any airports within gliding distance then set up the airplane for best gliding performance (90 knots) and make it down to a runway without pulling the hood off until the last 1000′ or so. One great thing about the Malibu is that it glides better than 10:1, i.e., if you’re up at 25,000′ (5 miles) you can glide more than 50 miles horizontally.
I came away from the training with some improved flying skills and an appreciation for all the things that can wrong in a Malibu. My personal summary: the airplane can do just about everything that an airliner can do but there isn’t much redundancy so it isn’t wise to do the things that the airlines do, e.g., overfly truly horrible weather or fly into low instrument conditions. An airliner will have multiple engines, hydraulic pumps, etc. and will be piloted by two full-time professionals in front.
[Incidentally, last year’s hurricanes hit Vero Beach very hard. It appears that all pedestrian streets were destroyed, along with most sidewalks. All the bookstores are gone as well as every classical music radio station. Every person under age 55 not employed in the service industry was apparently killed. The only things that are left here are gated communities full of rather old rather rich people, strip malls, real estate brokers, urology offices and MRI scanning centers.]
“Because so many Malibu engines have quit in flight…” It sounds like you traded in your Diamond for a Malibu. Sounds like great fun. Did you know “…so many Malibu engines have quit in flight…” before you bought it? If so I am curious of your justification for what you seem to describe as fairly dangerous aircraft.
I have alway been surprised that it is a fairly rare occurance when people actually SURVIVE a Malibu engine failure, given the fact the the Malibu seems more sailplane-like than most other singles.
I always enjoy the type of flying that you can do in a Malibu, that is flying in the flight levels. I enjoy the arrival plannng the best. The turbocharged, pressurized twin that I fly (Cessna C414A Chancellor) is certified to 30,000 feet, though we typically fly it in the high teens to low twenties. The higher you get, keeping the engine cool in the thin air becomes problematic. We plan our descent 100 mile out, and if we don’t start down 90 miles out, we will arrive too high.
At 90 miles out, we reduce our power from 31 inches to 25 at 1 inch/minute. After the power is set to 25″ it stays there until the final reduction during the flare to land. the speed and descent rate is controlled by the introduction of drag. It’s a great challenge not to mess with the throttles, but also very satisfying when you do it right.
You should strongly consider physiological altitude chamber training that the FAA offers through the U.S. Air Force. The chamber training involves a cabin depressurazation at 25,000 feet, and an opportunity to take your O2 mask off and do some simple puzzles to actually experience the symptoms of hypoxia.
You can check out the FAA website, or drop me an email if you need more information.
All the Best
Phil, you didn’t come out and actually say it, but this could only mean that 505WT has been traded in on a Malibu, no? Did I miss some momentus posting to your weblog? Is the selection and purchase of a Piper Malibu Mirage not newsworthy enough to deserve its own posting? The real clue was when you referred to your 2002 Diamond DA40 as ‘old’ :-). I generally reserve the term ‘old’ for planes that were built before 1960.
I think that the early Piper Malibu earned a reputation similar to the early Bonanzas, and likely for similar reasons, i.e., they appealed to people wealthy enough to afford them, but perhaps without the time to devote to the necessary flight training. They also had trouble with the Continental engine, which was switched to a Lycoming on the Mirage.
-Lee
“The real clue was when you referred to your 2002 Diamond DA40 as ‘old’ :-). I generally reserve the term ‘old’ for planes that were built before 1960.”
That’s funny because I reserve the term “old” for stuff like my socks, all the appliances in my house, or cheese. -Alisa 🙂
Is insurance for a plane like that really necessary? You’re rich, so you’ll buy the plane outright (no bank loan). If the plane crashes, you’ll be dead anyway. If you do survive a crash, you’ll probably be motivated to find a new hobby…
Perhaps such insurance also covers damage to other people, buildings and whatnot? I’m quite sure you don’t want to pay the damage yourself when you crash it into, say, a residential area. Or a bunch of other planes at an airport.
Joe: I knew about the Malibu’s troubled history before I got into this. One of my professors at MIT had an engine failure on a Continental-powered Malibu. Then he bought a brand-new Lycoming-powered Malibu that caught on fire as he flew it home from the factory. I considered buying a Cessna 340 or some other similar twin but the hourly cost for fuel and maintenance drove me back to the Malibu (also the Malibu’s superior visibility toward the ground compared to most twins because you aren’t looking at engine nacelles).
Lee: I did sell my old Diamond Star and am in the process of buying a Malibu. The deal isn’t final yet, though, and anyone can buy a plane. What would be newsworthy would be learning to fly the new plane competently!
Insurance folks: Insurance is not required in the U.S. but some foreign countries demand proof of liability insurance, notably Mexico. Having insurance is good at reducing the stress of dealing with problems in the air. For example, suppose that you’re in instrument conditions, by yourself, and the landing gear won’t come down. You can fly around in the clouds for awhile trying to fix the problem with maneuvers but it is nice to know that if you do have to land the plane gear-up it will be the insurance company’s responsibility to fix everything (about $90,000 I think). Guys without insurance sometimes take risks that they shouldn’t have in an attempt to spare their wallets. And finally I like to think that insurance companies know more about risk than I do. If they are refusing to write me a policy then perhaps I shouldn’t be doing the activity without additional training or experience. I’m now at the point where I can get Malibu insurance for about $11,400/year compared to $9,000/year or so for guys with thousands of hours of experience in the plane.
Yes, Vero Beach is sleepy and geriatric. If you stick around for a couple more weeks, though, you will get to see the start of spring training. Vero is spring training home of the LA Dodgers, a relationship that began back when the Dodgers commuted south from Brooklyn.
I hope that the hurricanes didn’t finish off the Vero Beach Book Center. The main store isn’t spectacular but gets some uncannily high-profile authors to stop by while on book tour. My wife worked in the children’s book store when we lived there and it is pretty impressive. Eventually, she tired of selling books to grandparents who assured her that their grandchildren read ‘above his/her grade level’ and we had to move back north to the frozen tundra.
Kevin’s characterization of Vero Beach (or Zero Beach as the younger inhabitants call it) as “sleepy and geriatric” is right on the money. And yes, Kevin, the Book Center is still standing.
Hey Phil, was wondering if you play any flight sim games? any recommendations for a non-pilot? I don’t like flying in real life. But I like to imagine.
Flight sims? I’ve tried Microsoft Flight Simulator a few times but was never able to control the aircraft or land (tried the Bell JetRanger, some sort of simple Cessna, and also the Caravan on floats). It is much harder to fly a sim than a real airplane. In a real airplane you don’t need to learn the command to “look left”; you just turn your head. You don’t need to learn the command to put down the flaps; you just reach out your hand and move the flap switch. I got into flying because I like looking at the ground from the air and because I like being able to hop around to obscure places. The sims, I think, appeal to people who are interested in the process of flying per se. Anyway if you have to choose a sim I think Microsoft Flight Simulator is the safe long-term choice. As with any other software product if the Microsoft version is at least reasonably good the competitors are sure to disappear.
Hey Phil after a Google search for Dick Moore, I found your site. I’m halfway through my ASEL and I currently hold a Rotorcraft rating. It’s funny, nobody seems to know exactly what the Rotorcraft to ASEL add-on requirements are, not even the Fed guy at the FSDO! Anyway, I’m flying with the Hanscom Aero Club at BED. I’m in the Civil Air Patrol which for anyone reading this who wants to learn to fly (and doesn’t have Phil’s level of discretionary cash outflow 🙂 is a must join. You can get a 172 and instructor for $81/hr. And if you’ve got your MEI the Baron goes for only $190/hr. Hope to see you on the ramp at BED sometime with the Malibu. Cheers, John
Regarding flight sims, I think you hit it on the head Philip. There is definitely a learning curve to deal with operating the sim itself as different from an actual plane. That being said I do think there is value in learning and maintaining proficiency for instrument operations. The reason I am writing though is to ask what made you choose the Malibu? I know the cabin space in the Diamond was an issue, and certainly the Malibu is a much more capable machine, but there are other choices and I am curious what things you considered beyond what you already mentioned.
Peter
Peter: Why the Malibu? It can be an exceptionally quiet airplane with a bit of sound proofing and the 4-blade MT Prop. I measured it at 86 dBA in the back seat versus 93 or 94 for a Cirrus, Cessna, or Diamond. That’s less than half the noise or the difference between an uncomfortable dog and a reasonably happy dog. The Malibu is a lot cheaper to operate than a pressurized twin and I have no use for the larger cabin of a Cessna 340 or 400-series plane, not to mention the fact that those old Cessnas are getting pretty old because they’ve been out of production for 20 years or more.
John: The Civil Air Patrol is a huge time sink and for building multi time the Piper Seminole from East Coast Aero Club is only $170/hour or so (maybe not as fast or nice as the Baron). Overall I don’t think the Hanscom Aero Club’s rates are going to make the difference for people whose financial priorities lie elsewhere. What is hard about the ASEL add-on requirements? I should think you just need to meet the minimums under aeronautical experience and you’re done (10 hours of solo, 20 hours of dual, 3 hours of night dual in there and the right amount of cross country stuff).
Not to get too nitpicky, but JFK Jr. crashed on a VFR flight plan that should have been filed IFR and flown by an experienced IFR qualified aviator. Twilight ocean haze loses the horizon, attempt to fly seat-of-the-pants is undone by oculo-vestibular illusion that is then overcompensated by aileron turn, graveyard spiral, altitude loss and you know the rest.
Have any of your aircraft type been fitted with Centurion powerplants
(i.e. Centurion 4.0 by TAE)?
Philip: Did you consider the new Adam A500? Initial price would be in the neighborhood of your new accquistion. Maintenance and fuel would be higher but it sounds like a vastly nicer plane ( on paper at least).
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Dear Sirs,
I was searching for information regarding the Piper Malibu, we had an accident back on Sept 15 morning (2006) with one of those. I was searching for information regarding the ability of aircraft in high Altitud.
This accident happened very recent, in Toluca, Mexico (Altitud above 2800 mts above sea level), Plane departed from Monterrey, Mexico (at about 500 mts above sea level) It departed with a Pilot of about 24 years old, and a cabin with 7 passengers all teen agers sons of politichans and business man of North of Mexico, in fact one of the passengers was Mr. Pablo Santos Williams, young talent and artist that was doing a excellent career in Holiywood.
Well, back to the facts, Plane departed Monterrey at about 8.17 Morning from Del Norte Aiport , with fuel exact to arrive to Toluca,Mexico as a leg, then refuel and proceed to Acapulco, Mexico. Note: All people traveled without any baggage only exceeded in one person. So someone was flying without seatbelt.
The plane was flying near Queretaro, Mexico, almost 75% of the flight was completed, when approaching to Toluca,Mexico (Int. Airport), when pilot declared emergency to tower but could not inform passengers about the situation according to a survivor comment. Survivors say plane just stopped and they began expexperimenting free fall , pilot tried to recuperate plane trying to soar to Toluca airport, it was difficult to get to landing strip, he was 1.7 km from Airpot. Plane hitted a construction it broked a wing, fuselage was dameged, but still in some form or had its shape, only tail was sinked backwards, but in general fuselage was almost protected some how.
Accident had one dead on site, son of the owner of the Plane, Pablo Santos (note he was not using seat belt, he gave his belt to other friend to have a seat) later second victim persih some hours later at local hospital of Toluca, second victim Mr. Martel Fernandez was declared with brain death, so he was declared death loosing battel against survival. Other victims including Pilot, had some important wounds, but not compromising their lives.
The situation is that I am reading that these airplanes tend to have engin failures in high altituds , so now I am having a better clue.
Plane is nice , and as per my observations in an accident, they tend to resist impact, at least in this incident there were two teenagers who loose lives, but they were five survivors. At the moment, Mexican Authorities, focuse on low gas and lack of pilot experience and or possible engine failure if they still had some fuel.