Does my Freight Dog (puppy) status get revoked...

[ppragman]

I don't really disagree with anything you said (except maybe "cruise fast enough"), but if you want to see build quality, check out the bulkheads on an MU-2 (or even a Mitsubeechy). Beech products are made out of paper-mache next to the offerings of the Rising Sun.

I'd be interested in seeing some of that - cuz I remember that the 1900 was built like a brick house. Three wingspars, all of which were capable of supporting the weight of the airframe under the most grueling loads was a comfort when refusing to slow down through the most hellacious mountain-induced bumps. The MU-2 looks like a fun airplane, but the Mitsi doesn't carry a whole hell of a lot does it?

 

[Boris Badenov]

The MU-2 looks like a fun airplane, but the Mitsi doesn't carry a whole hell of a lot does it?

If memory serves, and it probably doesn't, and in really, really broad strokes, you could carry a hair under 3k with a reasonable fuel load in the 99, and a hair under 2k with a similar fuel load in the mitsi. For your 1k of left-behind crap, you bought pressurization, speed, fearsomeness, noise (ok, 99 wins for loudest plane EVAR on the INSIDE), the ability to stop in about 800ft, machismo, ludicrously solid build quality, and, dare I say, a certain je ne sais quois.

MONEY WELL SPENT, say I.

 

[Boris Badenov]

Incidentally, to balance out my shameless Doggin of your Ride, I will say that the 99 climbs like a raped ape at light weights. Granted, you're barely moving over the ground, but it felt like the space shuttle after the, eh, shall we say "uninspired" climb performance of the mitsi.

 

[braunpilot]

I was up in the tower at MEM one day and the gent who did the run prior to you, with the other company. Was reportedly seen doing 200 kts until a 1/2 mile final and then he would touch down at the markers.

There was another day when that same mitsi pilot was cleared for takeoff as an A300/A310 was rolling off the runway and the tail of the Airbus didn't quite make it off the runway before he lifted off. That pilot asked the controller which side of the tail he should side step to and all the controller did was "eek". Then he said, Ill just go to this side, and flew around the tail and off on his way doing 180+ kts quite often I heard. The reason I know about the side step is that controllers training at MEM actually heard the audio in training. Go figure...

 

[Boris Badenov]

I was up in the tower at MEM one day and the gent who did the run prior to you, with the other company. Was reportedly seen doing 200 kts until a 1/2 mile final and then he would touch down at the markers.

There was another day when that same mitsi pilot was cleared for takeoff as an A300/A310 was rolling off the runway and the tail of the Airbus didn't quite make it off the runway before he lifted off. That pilot asked the controller which side of the tail he should side step to and all the controller did was "eek". Then he said, Ill just go to this side, and flew around the tail and off on his way doing 180+ kts quite often I heard. The reason I know about the side step is that controllers training at MEM actually heard the audio in training. Go figure...

Hahaha. Yeah, I talk a good game, but there are a lot tougher old Mitsi drivers than me out there running around. My old CP was one...he started as a wrencher for AA down in Tulsa (after, I suspect, a long career of kicking the hell out of cowboys in barfights...he was from New Jersey, bizzarely, and so had a sort of hybrid Joisey/Okey accent...like he'd shoot you down with a sixgun, then give you cement shoes for good measure). Anyhow, somewhere along the line he made the mistake of wandering across the field to visit Air 1st. After having done so, he worked hard to earn the crown of "biggest badass ever". He had an improperly latched (er, not on his side, as I heard it) "hatch" (if you've seen a cargo MU-2, and I know you have, you know what I mean) explosively decompress the airplane and get wrapped around the top of the fuselage. He had a 331 throw a blade...the way I heard it, if the FCU hadn't been disabled by the vibrations, they certainly would have died. He landed in blizzards..."Well, you go to reverse and try to steer straight, cause you can't see a damn thing for the snow" etc etc.

Another one was a good ole boy from South Carolina flying for Bankair. I flew with him a few times when...wait for it...the 99 was broken and they had to call someone to pick up the load. He had about a two week beard going and smelled like an ashtray, but he could taxi the mitsi one engine like a champ (I never could...couple of embarrassing stories where I shut one down for the taxi and had to sit there and start it up to make a turn whilst the marshallers watched), and he could get that thing down like a falling anvil.

Anyone can fly JETTTTSSSSSS. Only those whose luck hasn't quite run out (like me) and those who have balls that require a wheelbarrow (like them and the dudes in your stories) can roll hard in the Mitsi.

PS. Didn't the guy who flew the run for That Other Company Prior To Me wind up sharing a little hangar-space with you for a while? I think I remember meeting him.

 

[Blip16]

tks is terrible in the van, cessna has some serious problems. It leaks all over the place. How it gets into the belly podsi have no idea...

You should fly the 99, that thing can carry all the ice in the world. Not so much with the van.

What about the retrofitted birds? I haven't heard anything bad about them yet

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

 

[braunpilot]

PS. Didn't the guy who flew the run for That Other Company Prior To Me wind up sharing a little hangar-space with you for a while? I think I remember meeting him.

I got to see him once in a while but as far as I know. No, but then again I could be wrong.

 

[ppragman]

Incidentally, to balance out my shameless Doggin of your Ride, I will say that the 99 climbs like a raped ape at light weights. Granted, you're barely moving over the ground, but it felt like the space shuttle after the, eh, shall we say "uninspired" climb performance of the mitsi.

Took a little while to get back to this thread as I've been gallavanting across the midwest in the ever present push to move freight and now is the first time I've been able to get an internet connection that wasn't "mobile."

The 99 has a damn good wing on it, it can get off the ground relatively quick and has some decent performance empty- hell, even loaded up it doesn't do bad. I'll take the added utility of the thing if I'm looking to make money rather than the cool factor. I can deal with the uncomfortable noise (it is an obscenely loud airplane inside) provided the airplane doesn't try to kill me instantly if I lose a motor, and doesn't have complicated systems (not that the mitsi does or has either as far as I know). It's "easy" to fly in the sense that any multi-engined turboprop is "easy" and thus far in my whopping 100hrs in type (not a lot), the only time I've managed to raise my hackles was through my own ineptitude (which in general is probably an above average level of incompetence). The panel and switches are laid out remarkably well, and while you still have to stoop to throw boxes in this thing, somehow it seems to not be as uncomfortable as the caravan. The most important aspect of the airplane though is just how uneventful and logical every flight is in it. There's no "weird" procedures, no awkward gyrations that have to be completed to do anything, and no unnecessary annunciators or lights. It has a few quirks - the no trim wheel is kind of an oversight in my opinion, as is the archaic fire detection system - but that's to be expected for the first generation of "regional airliners" which was revolutionary at the time. The only thing it could really use is more power and/or pressurization. I can do without the pressurization provided I had a better system of getting O2 than a cannula, which is my fault anyway. Haven't flown the mitsi, but to come from a Caravan to a 99 is somewhat akin to climbing out the back door of your 1985 conversion van and jumping into a 1968 Pontiac GTO - no, its not a Ferrari, but its still more fun than the Caravan.

 

[Boris Badenov]

Heh. It's a QUEEN AIR wing. It was meant to go 135 knots!

No, I agree, the thing is good at what it does, particularly if what it does isn't for 2+ hours. And the GTO to Van analogy is probably pretty apt (not having flown the Turbine 206), but that would make the Mitsi maybe a Skyline GT-R. Except louder and better looking!

How's the on-demand bidness doing over there? I've heard positive things...

 

[KLB]

Took a little while to get back to this thread as I've been gallavanting across the midwest in the ever present push to move freight and now is the first time I've been able to get an internet connection that wasn't "mobile."

The 99 has a damn good wing on it, it can get off the ground relatively quick and has some decent performance empty- hell, even loaded up it doesn't do bad. I'll take the added utility of the thing if I'm looking to make money rather than the cool factor. I can deal with the uncomfortable noise (it is an obscenely loud airplane inside) provided the airplane doesn't try to kill me instantly if I lose a motor, and doesn't have complicated systems (not that the mitsi does or has either as far as I know). It's "easy" to fly in the sense that any multi-engined turboprop is "easy" and thus far in my whopping 100hrs in type (not a lot), the only time I've managed to raise my hackles was through my own ineptitude (which in general is probably an above average level of incompetence). The panel and switches are laid out remarkably well, and while you still have to stoop to throw boxes in this thing, somehow it seems to not be as uncomfortable as the caravan. The most important aspect of the airplane though is just how uneventful and logical every flight is in it. There's no "weird" procedures, no awkward gyrations that have to be completed to do anything, and no unnecessary annunciators or lights. It has a few quirks - the no trim wheel is kind of an oversight in my opinion, as is the archaic fire detection system - but that's to be expected for the first generation of "regional airliners" which was revolutionary at the time. The only thing it could really use is more power and/or pressurization. I can do without the pressurization provided I had a better system of getting O2 than a cannula, which is my fault anyway. Haven't flown the mitsi, but to come from a Caravan to a 99 is somewhat akin to climbing out the back door of your 1985 conversion van and jumping into a 1968 Pontiac GTO - no, its not a Ferrari, but its still more fun than the Caravan.

I give you another 3 months of flying the 99 before you become bored out your mind. I take that back. I'll give another 6 months since you're doing Ad hoc. If you were flying a scheduled run you'd get bored with it really fast.

 

[2BEER]

Hahaha. Yeah, I talk a good game, but there are a lot tougher old Mitsi drivers than me out there running around. My old CP was one...he started as a wrencher for AA down in Tulsa (after, I suspect, a long career of kicking the hell out of cowboys in barfights...he was from New Jersey, bizzarely, and so had a sort of hybrid Joisey/Okey accent...like he'd shoot you down with a sixgun, then give you cement shoes for good measure). Anyhow, somewhere along the line he made the mistake of wandering across the field to visit Air 1st. After having done so, he worked hard to earn the crown of "biggest badass ever". He had an improperly latched (er, not on his side, as I heard it) "hatch" (if you've seen a cargo MU-2, and I know you have, you know what I mean) explosively decompress the airplane and get wrapped around the top of the fuselage. He had a 331 throw a blade...the way I heard it, if the FCU hadn't been disabled by the vibrations, they certainly would have died. He landed in blizzards..."Well, you go to reverse and try to steer straight, cause you can't see a damn thing for the snow" etc etc.

Another one was a good ole boy from South Carolina flying for Bankair. I flew with him a few times when...wait for it...the 99 was broken and they had to call someone to pick up the load. He had about a two week beard going and smelled like an ashtray, but he could taxi the mitsi one engine like a champ (I never could...couple of embarrassing stories where I shut one down for the taxi and had to sit there and start it up to make a turn whilst the marshallers watched), and he could get that thing down like a falling anvil.

Anyone can fly JETTTTSSSSSS. Only those whose luck hasn't quite run out (like me) and those who have balls that require a wheelbarrow (like them and the dudes in your stories) can roll hard in the Mitsi.

PS. Didn't the guy who flew the run for That Other Company Prior To Me wind up sharing a little hangar-space with you for a while? I think I remember meeting him.

Boris, I like your style.

Anyway, do you know Jorge? He's a latino that pronounced his name like a gringo and was an Air 1st pilot that used to fly between Cleveland BKL and Cincinnati every night. He's a good fella. I'd like to get back in touch with that dude and see what he's up to.

 

[ppragman]

Heh. It's a QUEEN AIR wing. It was meant to go 135 knots!

No, I agree, the thing is good at what it does, particularly if what it does isn't for 2+ hours. And the GTO to Van analogy is probably pretty apt (not having flown the Turbine 206), but that would make the Mitsi maybe a Skyline GT-R. Except louder and better looking!

How's the on-demand bidness doing over there? I've heard positive things...

Psha, the Caravan's not even a Turbine 206 - the 206 performs way better - plus its so simple in operation I'd liken it to a monstrously obese Skyhawk. The 206 is fun to fly pretty much the whole trip too (cuz you almost never have a long trip in the thing) whereas the caravan is only fun to fly for the first five minutes and the last five minutes. Anything enroute is either boring or terrifying (ice). But that's just me. My analogy thus far is this:
206 --> Dune Buggy
208 --> Conversion van (only fun if you're getting laid in it)
Be99 --> GTO.

Where the Mitsi sits sounds nice though... I don't have much to compare it to, but I suspect that some of the "cooler" turbine twins (like the Conquest, or the Mojave) would be a bit more fun to drive around than this airplane - the MU2 included, that said, the 99 is kind of unique. I'd like to fly a Merlin or something to compare maybe.

As for on-demand we're staying fairly busy. Plus we've got scheds that supplement the dry-spells. Its not like the "good old days" of course, but I'm doing enough to not get bored but not so much as to get burnt out. That and they treat us pretty well in my opinion - of course this is my first on-demand gig, so I have nothing to compare it to in this segment of the industry.

 

[ppragman]

I give you another 3 months of flying the 99 before you become bored out your mind. I take that back. I'll give another 6 months since you're doing Ad hoc. If you were flying a scheduled run you'd get bored with it really fast.

Oh God, in retrospect I hated my life only doing the same scheduled run over and over and over ad nauseum. I thought I would love it when I started, but the UPS feeder schedule doesn't allow you for much of a life outside of UPS. I do scheds here on a fairly regular basis, but the on demand keeps it from being killer, the way its set up thus far after a week of doing scheds I'm looking forward to the going on the road and after a couple weeks of living in hotels I'm looking forward to the scheds. All in all, it keeps my antsy ass busy and not bored, which is probably the most important for me.

 

[Boris Badenov]

Anyway, do you know Jorge? He's a latino that pronounced his name like a gringo and was an Air 1st pilot that used to fly between Cleveland BKL and Cincinnati every night. He's a good fella. I'd like to get back in touch with that dude and see what he's up to.

A) I like your MOVES! (don't ask)

B) I think I might have met Jorge once, but it was so long ago and I was in such a damn hurry (if we did meet, it was because his airplane broke and I was picking up his stuff...or conceivably vice versa) that I can't picture the man's face. I will say that his reputation was always as a good dude. I remember he was sick for a few days and I TDY'd his run and his airplane was SPOTLESS. Like, a place for everything and everything in its place. Pilot organizers, aftermarket sunshades, meticulous paperwork. I was impressed, even if it wasn't what I'd exactly call "my style". And, the ultimate arbiter of whether a freight guy is a "good dude"...the Fed guys and the linemen spoke highly of him. I think he probably had to work on that thing with a toothbrush for a couple of days after I got done with it. If memory serves, he went off to fly jets or something somewhere? It was maybe 6 months before the whole thing went pear shaped, so it was probably a good move. If you do track him down, tell him Mike Z is still holding down the fort in Tulsa (by himself, last I heard) and tell him I'm sorry for trashing his airplane.

 

[Boris Badenov]

Anything enroute is either boring or terrifying (ice). But that's just me.

No thanks!

Where the Mitsi sits sounds nice though... I don't have much to compare it to, but I suspect that some of the "cooler" turbine twins (like the Conquest, or the Mojave) would be a bit more fun to drive around than this airplane - the MU2 included, that said, the 99 is kind of unique. I'd like to fly a Merlin or something to compare maybe.

Not sure about the Merlin, but I've ridden around in a Conquest once...it was about midway between the 99 and the MU-2, I guess, in terms of "attention required" The only thing with two turboprops cooler than an MU-2 is (IMHO) a Cheyenne 400, and that's just because it's ludicrously overpowered. Er, and ludicrously overpowered by GARRETS, natch!

As for on-demand we're staying fairly busy. Plus we've got scheds that supplement the dry-spells. Its not like the "good old days" of course, but I'm doing enough to not get bored but not so much as to get burnt out. That and they treat us pretty well in my opinion - of course this is my first on-demand gig, so I have nothing to compare it to in this segment of the industry.

If you're not sitting at home wondering when the pink slip is coming, I think you're probably doing just fine.

 

[scooter2525]

No, I agree, the thing is good at what it does, particularly if what it does isn't for 2+ hours. And the GTO to Van analogy is probably pretty apt (not having flown the Turbine 206), but that would make the Mitsi maybe a Skyline GT-R. Except louder and better looking!

HAHAHH YES! The softer side of Boris towards the 99 comes out. *Taps fingers together* Excellent.

 

[KLB]

Oh God, in retrospect I hated my life only doing the same scheduled run over and over and over ad nauseum. I thought I would love it when I started, but the UPS feeder schedule doesn't allow you for much of a life outside of UPS. I do scheds here on a fairly regular basis, but the on demand keeps it from being killer, the way its set up thus far after a week of doing scheds I'm looking forward to the going on the road and after a couple weeks of living in hotels I'm looking forward to the scheds. All in all, it keeps my antsy ass busy and not bored, which is probably the most important for me.

I've spent my entire at "the company" either reserve, flying ad hoc, or TDY. I absolutely have no desire to fly a scheduled run. It's far to monotonous for me!

No thanks!



Not sure about the Merlin, but I've ridden around in a Conquest once...it was about midway between the 99 and the MU-2, I guess, in terms of "attention required" The only thing with two turboprops cooler than an MU-2 is (IMHO) a Cheyenne 400, and that's just because it's ludicrously overpowered. Er, and ludicrously overpowered by GARRETS, natch!

The challenge of the metro is to get it to fly like the much more manuverable 1900. The metro is faster, but the 1900 is easier on the controls. I hear that the metro and 737 feel the same on the controls. I recall you thinking about rolling in the 99 and would be in a 30 degree. The metro is crank the yoke over and wait 3 seconds. You have to anticipate everything. It can be a real pita to fly if the autopilot is inop. Also the way the buttons are laid out...in some instances you have to think before you push them or you could royally screw something up.

 

[woutlaw]

You guys are all wussies. Real men fly airplanes that pee themselves on the ramp.

It was so manly Piper only built 24 of them before running out of pilots studly enough to fly it. Either that or maybe it really wasn't that great of an idea after all. ;-)

 

[Monk]

I've spent my entire at "the company" either reserve, flying ad hoc, or TDY. I absolutely have no desire to fly a scheduled run. It's far to monotonous for me!



The challenge of the metro is to get it to fly like the much more manuverable 1900. The metro is faster, but the 1900 is easier on the controls. I hear that the metro and 737 feel the same on the controls. I recall you thinking about rolling in the 99 and would be in a 30 degree. The metro is crank the yoke over and wait 3 seconds. You have to anticipate everything. It can be a real pita to fly if the autopilot is inop. Also the way the buttons are laid out...in some instances you have to think before you push them or you could royally screw something up.

There are metros with auto pilots?

 

[KLB]

There are metros with auto pilots?

"The company" has metros with varying levels of technology ranging from only being able to hold altitude and heading to those that have altitude select that couples to the GPS. Yes there actually are some with panel mounted GPS.