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MU-2 into grass airfield.

This is too cool! An MU-2 goes in to Johnson Creek, a smooth 3500ft grass field in the Idaho mountains at 5000ft elevation. I was there 3 years ago in my old Commander for the Backcountry Fly-in and had a great time amongst all the crazy bush planes. I was the only twin in there. What makes the more rugged TP twins extra cool in this regard is that with them you don’t have to chose your plane for each mission – they’ll kinda do it all. It’s like having a Range Rover – equally adept in the mud as it is at the Ritz.

From my estimations, his ground roll is about 2000ft on the takeoff. Not bad for a 10,000lbs TP with a tiny wing! I’d like to do that one day.



Here my old plane is taking off at same airport:

Last Edited by AdamFrisch at 24 Jun 23:25

Fair bit of reverse thrust there…..

Egnm, United Kingdom

It is cool, but I wouldn’t be in that plane and I wouldn’t stand near the edges of that runway either OTOH I suspect that the guy I watch come and go in an MU-2 isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed (it’s a bit scary to watch, compared with other planes) and that the pilot in the video is probably very good!

It’s pretty wide, Silvaire. The reason his rollout is to the left is because there’s at least 2 planes pulled out and parked on the right hand side!

Last Edited by AdamFrisch at 24 Jun 23:49

Adam it would be interesting to get the performance calculations for a twin turbo prop at Johnson Creek: balked landing, landing distance required, V speeds on take off and take off and obstacle clearance requirements.

Back in the 60’s the MU-2 (then marketed by Mooney) was a regular at air shows, with impressive short field performance.

Oxford (EGTK), United Kingdom

My dream twin for when I win the lottery. Ticks all the boxes for me.

Always looking for adventure
Shoreham

A very nice airplane (although, AFAIK, can be a handful) and obviously a pilot who knows what he’s doing. 3500 ft should be fine (My field is 3000 ad we have Citationjets coming, no grass though)

Discussed at length on PPRuNe not so long ago. This one sums it up best: http://www.pprune.org/biz-jets-ag-flying-ga-etc/552631-mitsubishi-mu-2-a-2.html#post8793705

EDDS - Stuttgart

A very nice airplane (although, AFAIK, can be a handful) and obviously a pilot who knows what he’s doing. 3500 ft should be fine (My field is 3000 ad we have Citationjets coming, no grass though)

Rather more than a handful when you see the statistics. I knew it had a poor accident record, but the statistics are terrifying. I know Adam will be back to say that since the FAA mandated special training it’s improved, but I would counter that the FAA haven’t mandated special training very often, a King Air doesn’t need it.

Darley Moor, Gamston (UK)

If an airplane had design faults and ADs were issued, corrections were made … why do I care? The problems are fixed and do not affect me. What was in the past is not really relevant, is it?

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