These Folks Have A Plan -- And It's Working...

There has been an unmistakable (and welcome) trend, of late, among the pilots of a number of high performance aircraft types that has convinced (or forced...) them to take their destiny into their own hands.

They are coming together to solve problems and concerns collectively, rather than looking outside their ranks for guidance and assistance (and avoiding having it forced upon them)... and it's working. By banding together to share concerns, information, and expertise and building a framework whereby the free exchange of such important concepts might be dealt out swiftly and equitably, the relative safety of a number of types of aircraft has improved remarkably.

We've seen recent efforts from Cirrus and Lancair owners but one of the best (and most organized) we've seen so far has been something of a too-well-kept secret that deserves to be lauded more widely. It also deserves to be examined and replicated throughout an industry that is rapidly coming to grips with the fact that type-specific, mission-oriented training and protocols are going to be the savior of much of the more active/capable GA aircraft types. Period.

ANN recently spent time with a number of members of the growing Malibu/Mirage Owners and Pilots Association... an organization that seems to be doing an admirable job of supporting the needs of a number of Malibu/Mirage owners and has just recently started lending similar support to owners of other single-engine high-performance piston and turbine aircraft -- starting with the Malibu, Mirage, Meridian & Jetprop -- and recently adding pilots of TBM700s, PC-12s and similar birds to its roster. It's a "birds of a feather" solution, and it's quickly becoming the most successful model for GA to use in making its ranks safer and more accessible.

This weekend, pilots are gathering together in a resort near the St. Augustine, FL, airport to attend seminars, engage in Q&A sessions, meet with other pilots and see the latest and greatest in aero-wares in a surprisingly active trade-show. Among the highlights of this four day event are seminars given by NASA Astronaut Jay Apt, discussions concerning engine-out emergencies, maintenance issues, tax/insurance, and cost issues, avionics operations, safety reviews, M/MOPA organizational programs, and some valuable type-specific sessions dedicated to a number of serious high-performance birds... including some non-Piper types such as the TBM-700 and PC-12. One particularly intriguing event was billed as the biggest Malibu Q&A session ever, with 150 Malibu flyers expected to take part. Additionally; Piper Head Honcho Chuck Suma showed up (by motorcycle, no less) and addressed the group en masse to apprise them of the state of Piper Aircraft and issues near dear and dear to both recip and turbine Piper flyers. Of course; there were a number of family and non-flying activities planned so that the non-pilots not only had plenty to do but plenty of reasons of their own to join their flying family members at this event.

M/MOPA Convention Coordinator Bill Alberts was kind enough to invite us to spend some time with the membership of this organization and to attend the trade-show... which was very well-staffed by some of GA's most significant players. Obviously; Piper was the largest vendor in evidence and their display area was heavily oriented toward extolling the virtues and unique capabilities of the PT-6 powered Meridian, the turbine-powered big brother of the Malibu series. Piper displayed some convincing exhibits that showed (quite demonstrably) the many differences between the elder Malibu piston birds and the plethora of changes that were necessary to extend this airframe to fit into a turbine world. Just the display of a Meridian horizontal stab, with the outline of the smaller Malibu stab etched within it's confines was enough to make a pretty sharp point (that Piper obviously wants the world to know about) that the Meridian was not just a re-engined Malibu--but a whole new bird. Another display emphasized Piper's adoption of Vortex Generators... credited with helping Piper get a useful load increase that the Meridian truly needed to maintain it's credibility as a serious but single-pilot-manageable go-fast transport system.

Some of the other notable vendors included Eclipse Aviation, who obviously see a ready market among high-performance single-engine flyers for their next generation twin engine "L'il-Jet." This bird is currently on it's way to certification and deliveries just a few years hence--and the aviation world will never be the same once that happens. Other vendors offered a number of engine upgrades, including several turbine alternatives for current Malibu owners. One, Maximus, offers the affordable Walter turbo-prop retrofit program (for under $400K) but the most popular, by far, is Darwin Conrad's lavishly engineered JetProp conversions (124 of them done, to date)... recently debuting with a new generation of PT-6 powerplants that promise better numbers than ever. The Jetprop conversion has a number of very happy adherents who quote their economical operating costs and top speeds as if they were bragging about their kids.

Other companies looking to invade the Malibu/Meridian market were staffers from EADS/Socata who promoted the many virtues of the TBM 700 and Pilatus with their PC-12. Also in attendance were the new owners of Extra Aircraft, talking up the soon-to-be-certified Extra 500 -- an airplane that ANN is particuarly anxious to fly in light of the experience we had withthe Extra 400 piston speedster. I was pleased to see a number of companies specializing in all manner of initial and recurrent training programs for many of these aircraft... one of them (Roger Aviation of Eden Prairie, MN) even smart enough to also extol the benefits of an unusual attitude training program, as well. Each company reported strong interest and a sense that owners and operators of this generation of aircraft seemed more training-oriented than most other high-performance single engine flyers. Also in strong evidence were insurance companies, Fly-In communities, maintenance operations, and component manufacturers like Hartzell, Lycoming, et al.

Avionics were a major item on the trade-show floor. EFIS superstars Avidyne and Chelton showed their wares while Chelton went the extra mile by showing up with a recently converted JetProp as a demo bird.... which ANN will be testing in a day or two (a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do). With possibly the most advanced EFIS system we know of (especially in terms of the way that they have adapted HITS and terrain modeling within the PFD... which is exquisitely done and unequaled by any other equivalent product), as well as over 600 STCs in hand, Chelton is uniquely positioned to capture a significant portion of the upscale panel retrofit market. We'll have more info and an update on this system shortly.

I was pleased to meet up with engine guru, Victor Sloan (seen below, chatting with ANN's marketing wizard, Larry Pius), who has been kinda low-key, of late, setting up a charter business, attending to his Piper duties and running one of the most respected engine shops in the business. We've been trying to talk Victor into sharing some of his smarts with ANN for quite a while now and it seems that we're wearing him down... so we hope to offer you some serious advice from the guy that Bob Hoover used to keep his Shrike engines singing happily while he was turning them every which way but loose.

M/MOPA has impressed us this week -- and we feel that they have more to teach us (so you may expect a follow-up on this organization and its efforts ASAP). Looking into this group, we note that they are very active, actually the best word is PROactive, in terms of safety and training, hosting at least four Malibu/Mirage Safety & Training Foundation enrichment training programs a year. They also host an active message board on their web site, publish a dedicated membership magazine, and host a help line service to provide counsel and advice for pilots "on the road." Most of all, they have become a nexus for change within a strong group of hard-flying aviators who are coming to understand that dedicated efforts like this organization are quickly coming to be seen as more than just helpful, but absolutely indispensable... and this trend is becoming pretty popular in a number of other aviation segments... with a notable reduction in accidents and incidents being the welcome result. Dedicated type/mission-specific support is proving to be one of the much sought-after solutions that aviation has needed for years -- and for Malibu/Meridian owners (and their close cousins), M/MOPA has stepped to fill an urgent need. Kudos to these folks... for a job well done and for being a leader in a set of solutions that are revolutionizing the nature and effectiveness of general aviation.

FMI: www.mmopa.com, www.newpiper.com, www.jetprop.com, www.eclipseaviation.com, www.avidyne.com, www.cheltonfs.com, www.victor-aviation.com