Mon, Sep 04, 2006
Infamous High Performance Plane In The News Again
In a depressingly
familiar story, another Mitsubishi MU-2 twin- turboprop has gone
down in Florida killing its pilot. Friday's crash follows the
loss of the same type aircraft less than a week earlier in the
state, where a Michigan couple died.
The aircraft was on a flight from Tulsa, OK to Panama City, FL
and ended near the panhandle town of DeFuniak Springs. The pilot
has not yet been identified.
The MU-2, a plane reviled by critics but adored by the pilots
and owners who use them, is a high performance twin turboprop
aircraft that has become popular because of its relatively low
price and operating costs. The plane is used frequently in air
cargo operations, particularly bank check transfers, and is also
often flown single-pilot by individual owners. It has been subject
to a very detailed FAA analysis that mandates that pilots be made
aware of its unusual flying characteristics as well as specific
training in icing awareness.
The plane is particularly unpopular in Colorado where two
accidents occurred in quick succession last winter. The plane was
subject to an intensive media investigation by local media. Their
conclusion, supported by an aviation professor, was that since the
airplane uses spoilers instead of ailerons for roll control, that
the airplane was essentially uncontrollable if it lost an engine at
high gross weight and low speed. About 10% of all MU-2s have
crashed since being introduced from Japan in the mid-60s.
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