UPS MD-11 crash at SDF

Richman said:
It was bad then, much worse now. Any of those complicated piston twins, and you'd have better luck maintaining Migs without metric tools.

Parts are starting to dry up for even the more common birds, and priced accordingly. But I think the day of the certified piston aircraft is coming to an end. In 10 years, and there will be LSA/MOSAIC birds, and turbines, with nothing in-between. If you have anything like a GO-480, or a Beech electric prop, forget it. Shops won't touch them even if you have a stash of unobtainium parts.

You see sporadic PMA activity, but only for consumables, wear items and very occasionally significant parts that require know how, but not significant infrastructure (ex. ruddervators for Bonanzas). Anything that is complicated that requires some real industrial/machining mojo, like center spars for 177s/210s or bathtub fittings for Bonanzas/Barons, and yea, you get them from Textron or salvage, or you part out what you have.

You'd think some enterprising soul would step in and buy the parts chain. But manufacturers aren't willing to part with the IP.
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There was one repair station authorized to work on cowl flap and windshield wiper transmissions and I very much got the vibe that it was one old guy working out of his garage with an FAA CRS letter hanging on the wall. That was pushing 10 years ago and a lot of those guys either retired or straight up died during Covid. In fact one of the legendary Alaska Chieftain guys did die of Covid, he had a bunch of specialty PMAs, STCs, and AMOCs for some of the various aging aircraft issues. You couldn’t get a replacement flap track, someone was looking into getting the specs of the metal stock and CNC cutting some as owner produced parts but I don’t know what happened with that.

In one respect, time and technology move on as they always have and you’d be hard pressed to find any sane person who says that a caravan or a Pilatus isn’t objectively a far better airplane than a 402/PA31/421 but in another respect it’s a bit sad because damn they were fun and rewarding to fly. An elegant weapon for a more civilized age, as they say.
 
With a FEW exceptions, everything with pistons and/or props can be melted down tomorrow and I'd never look back.

(except for Pilatus products)
 
I dunno how a Chieftain compared, but i was always rather happy with the way that the old training SEL pipers flew. I imagine it was several orders of magnitude more demanding though
 
///AMG said:
I dunno how a Chieftain compared, but i was always rather happy with the way that the old training SEL pipers flew. I imagine it was several orders of magnitude more demanding though
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J-3's are fun. Clipped wing Cubs are better. But to me, of all the Piper singles I've got time in, a PA-12 with a 150hp Lycoming is a REALLY nice airplane. Followed by a Pacer if you want to take 4 people. But if I had to choose one Piper Single I'd take a PA-12 with 150hp. Good on you for calling out Piper singles though!
 
WacoFan said:
Speaking of, did you see the announcement last week that Beech is discontinuing the Bonanza and the Baron? Out of the piston engine biz now.
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Yes. Disappointing but unsurprising. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them pull down 182/206 production as well. If you’re going to be out, might as well be all out, so it wouldn’t be to far a reach for them to shutter the 172 line as well.

That will leave Piper for fleet sales. From what I understand, Piper only takes fleet orders now, but they will squeeze out an Archer or two if they have a production slot available. I could be wrong on that.

The only game left is Cirrus, or the handful of airplanes that Maule or American Champion, but we’re talking single digits a year.

I don’t feel MOSAIC is going to be the savior everyone thinks it is. Personal aviation lived and thrived in a time where people of average means had a surplus of personal time. Airplanes will soak up all the time you have, and more, and back in the day people had more of it. These days, not so much, both from personal choices and the current work environment.

These days, all I see are the Corvette & jorts crowd on the low end. I grant you fully I have slightly more than average means, but it’s hard to get a hangar, or even a tie down, when a MoneyBro and his pals comes in and sets the price 4x for his M2 or Phenom, and doesn’t think anything of it. And there seems to be a lot of them.

MOSIC will probably go down the same path as LSAs. Everyone talks about a “new dawn”, without realizing that no one has time for recreational aviation, and so you’re left going for the small market of wealthy people, so those new aircraft will pivot exactly the same direction that LSAs went, fully loaded, very expensive luxury items, because that’s the only market.

What really would have helped, that is reforming the PMA process to get more quality parts in the system, or an owner maintained category, to lessen the pressure on overloaded shops for trivial issues, but that seems to have escaped notice.

My $0.02….
 
I can only echo what @A300Capt, @mikecweb and @Brian29 said. They said it all beautifully!

She's an amazing, unique jet. She's beautiful, powerful and smart. But you have to earn her respect every day. I did my 18-month penance on the •box and just recently came back to her with great joy and excitement. I've been very happy since I've been back on her and every flight ends with a feeling of accomplishment that isn't available on the 767.

The other thing that sets her apart, at Purple at least, is the crews. Everyone on the MD-11 is pretty much here by choice. They have a love for her and are sticking with her. As stated before, it's a small group that has had the privilege of having that type rating on one's certificate. And every pilot I fly with on the MD-11 is just a good person and enjoyable. When I was on the 767, I said more than once that no other airplane I've been on has made me want to upgrade more than the 767. It was a breath of fresh air when I repented of my sins and came back to the MD.

I, too, hope I haven't flown my last flight on her.
 
Boris Badenov said:
I flew them for like, I dunno, 12 hours back at one of the charter jobs. Because while I was a Falcon C/A, under 135 I could also be a "Chieftain C/A" (wink wink, nudge nudge) and they could do half of the checkrides in the Chieftain.

I thought it was pretty cool. Better than a Baron. Probably more fun than a 99, which I admit is faint praise.
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You have the heart of a Lyon.
 
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