Volume 12 Number 3 Summer 2003 Fire and Ice by Robert Mills Page 30 America’s Ancient City: St. Augustine A Pre-Convention Tour by Jeff Schweitzer Page 42 Representing Owners and Pilots of High Performance Single Engine Pressurized Aircraft Worldwide Trade-in and land an incredible deal on a Meridian. Deal your way into a Piper Meridian. Now with 15% MORE useful load. There are more reasons than ever to get a new Piper Meridian • Now with up to 1740 pounds of useful load • Optional Honeywell Integrated Hazard (15% more!) Avoidance System (IHAS) 8000 • New cutting edge digital Magic 1500 autopilot – Weather uplink – Traffic avoidance designed especially for the Meridian – Color moving map – L3 WX-500 Stormscope • Piper Insurance and Financial Services – Terrain awareness – Weather radar display standing by to work for you • 2 year Factory Warranty Now that’s freedom. There’s never been a better time to buy! Take advantage of this limited time offer today. To find out more, call Piper at 866-648-1945 or visit www.newpiper.com ™ The New Piper Aircraft, Inc. Table of Contents ... 6 Letter From the Editor by Jeff Schweitzer 10 Malibu Maintenance by Kevin Mead 12 Aviation News by Doug Leet 14 Note from the President by Richard Bynum 15 Coats Corner by David Coats M.D. 18 Malibu Trivia Q & A by Mary Bryant 21 Piper Perspective: The View From Vero Beach by Chuck Suma 24 Views from a JetProp by Robert Conrad 27 Turbine Times by Cody Ramsey 52 Notes from M-MOPA Headquarters by Russ Caauwe 57 M•MOPA Classifi eds 62 Advertising Rates 62 Calendar 62 Training Update FEATURE ARTICLES 30 Alaska Adventure by Robert Mills 42 America’s Ancient City: St. Augustine A Pre-Convention Tour by Jeff Schweitzer ON THE COVER Over the wilds of Alaska: This is True Adventure Flying. Second Page . Editor Advertisers’ Index . Jeff Schweitzer THE MALIBU•MIRAGE 2Days’ Wings, Inc. (512) 264-8026 • Fax (512) 264-8025 Page 58 Email: [email protected] OWNERS AND Aero One Send all publishing inquiries, manuscripts and Page 55 PILOTS AS SO CI A TION photos to the Editor. The Editor is responsible AP PRE CI ATES THE Arizona Aircraft Accessories for initial review of all submissions and content. Page 19 SUP PORT OF ITS ASI/Modern Aero ADVERTISERS. Page 47 Publisher PLEASE USE THEIR Aviation Sales/Denver Association Management, Inc. (AMI) Page 40 – 41 SER VIC ES WHENEVER San Antonio, TX 78232 Aviation Training Management POSSIBLE AND Page 48 Ship To: AMI 140 Heimer Rd., Suite 560 TELL THEM YOU SAW Bruce’s Custom Covers Page 48 San Antonio, TX 78232 THEIR AD IN THE Cessna Aircraft Company (210) 491-9473 • Fax (210) 525-8085 MALIBU•MIRAGE Page 11 Email: [email protected] MAGAZINE. Classifi ed Ads Page 57 Offi cers & Directors Columbia Aircraft Sales Page 56 Richard Bynum Corporate AirSearch, International President & Board Member Page 29 (210) 341-7246 • Fax: (210) 384-8363 Eclipse International, Inc. Douglas Leet Page 57 Vice President Electronic Flight Solutions (520) 399-1121 Email: [email protected] Page 37 Mona Rathmel Enhanced Flight Group Secretary/Treasurer & Board Member Page 23 Lewis Donzis FlightSafety International Board Member Page 28 Larry Johnson General Aviation and Modifi cation Inc. Page 59 Board Member Hartzell Propeller, Inc. Jeff Schweitzer Page 7 Board Member Ibis Aerospace James Yankaskas Page 39 Board Member JetProp Page 61 Executive Director Kansas City Aviation Center Page 17 Russ Caauwe M-MOPA Lester Kyle’s Aircraft Training P. O. Box 1288 Page 47 Green Valley, AZ 85622 Mariani Aviation Service (520) 399-1121 • Fax: (520) 648-3823 Page 8 Headquarters Email: [email protected] New Piper Aircraft, Inc. Website: http://www.mmopa.com Inside Front Cover On Eagle’s Wings Convention Coordinator Page 16 Pik*West Insurance Bill Alberts Page 54 (843) 785-9358 • Fax: (843) 785-7567 Pilatus Business Aircraft Limited Page 5 Plastech Corporation Page 54 Premier Aircraft Sales Page 51 Professional Insurance Management Inside Back Cover Schweiss Page 38 Scope Leasing Disclaimer Page 22 The comments, articles, stories, letters and information Scheyden Eyewear contained in this magazine are the personal opinions of Page 49 the writers and are not—and are not to be construed to SimCom/PanAm Training Center be—offi cial policy or commentary of the Malibu-Mirage Back Cover Skytech, Inc. Owners and Pilots Association. Page 60 Socata Aircraft, Inc. Neither the Association nor its directors, offi cers nor the Page 9 publisher give any offi cial sanction to any articles, stories, Spoilers, Inc. letters or information contained herein. Page 50 Superior Aviation, Inc. THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SAFE ISSN 1543-8805 Page 16 AND PROPER OPERATION OF HIS/HER AIRCRAFT AND IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND TO OPERATE THAT AIRCRAFT IN COMPLIANCE WITH THAT AIRCRAFT’S PILOT’S OPERATING HANDBOOK AND OTHER OFFICIAL MANUALS AND DIRECTIVES. Summer 2003 4 M•MOPA Downturns. Upturns. Market corrections. It can be a wild ride, and your choice of airplane is crucial. With a Pilatus PC-12 you don’t have to worry about having too little or too much aircraft. It’s affordable enough to be your first airplane, and big enough, fast enough, and ver- satile enough to carry you on to greater things. So get a PC-12, and start enjoying the ride. 1 800 PILATUS. www.pilatus-aircraft.com Letter from the Editor by Jeff Schweitzer Piper Perspective We are adding an exciting new feature to the magazine, entitled: Piper Perspective: The View From Vero Beach. Chuck Suma, president of The New Piper Aircraft, Inc., has graciously agreed to give us his thoughts and insights into Piper, and more broadly, into the status of general aviation. In this inaugural article, Mr. Suma addresses the diffi cult times faced by general aviation, and discusses some of the actions taken to weather the storm and move ahead. I am sure that I speak for every MMOPA member in giving Mr. Suma a warm welcome to the magazine. St. Augustine, Florida Rarely does an editor have the opportunity to pack ice or glaciers, as did Robert Mills in his discuss Ponce de Leon and the PA-46 in the same Alaskan adventure, vividly described in his article. paragraph. Yet here I sit in St. Augustine, drink This is an epic adventure, and required reading in hand, with just the excuse. The wise men and for anybody curious about flying in Alaska, or women of the MMOPA Board have chosen well more generally, about using the Malibu for serious the site for our next convention. Dating back to exploration anywhere. the 1500s, St. Augustine is rich in history, and offers the expected range of beach-front entertainment, Constant Change elegant dining and first-class accommodations This pre-convention issue is a good time to throw one would expect from a coastal resort catering out an idea for consideration, which the membership to the tanned set debarking from yachts with can then follow up in face to face discussions in St. trim bodies, white shorts and annoyingly clean Augustine. I suspect that a few cocktails will ease deck shoes. Not that I noticed, of course, it’s just things along. that, well, whatever. Anyway, this issue features Who Are You Calling an Oxymoron? yet another skillfully written treatise, this one Nothing catches ones attention better than a about everything St. Augustine, published with good oxymoron, and the notion that change is the goal of shaming you into attending the constant is a bit of a mind-twister. But disregarding convention if you were leaning in the other the nature of change itself, the historical direction. For those already committed, the article consensus is that change is generally benefi cial. will prepare you for the wide range of entertainment Benjamin Franklin once said, “When you’re opportunities to sample between academic finished changing, you’re finished.” That other programs. I will see you soon on the beaches famous quote-master, Winston Churchill, echoed of Northeast Florida, with my skinny white legs this sentiment when he said, “To improve is to and battered tennis shoes in full glory. With that change; to be perfect is to change often.” So we fi nd trap well laid, I vow this year to capture on fi lm ourselves in good company as we contemplate a member in thongs. If National Geographic can the future of MMOPA, and how we must change have a swimsuit issue … with the times to grow and prosper. Have no doubt that any change must be true to the core Fire and Ice mission of enhancing safety. In fact, a focus on that In this issue we bring you Malibu/Mirage tales in mission is a primary motivation for change. the geographic and climatic extremes of fi re and ice. What better way to complement our look at Pressurized Singles the sunny beaches of Florida than with a focus All of us in the PA-46 community fly high- on the cold embrace of Alaskan aviation? I am performance, single-engine pressurized aircraft, certain of few things in life, other than the fact whether piston or turbine. In that light, we have that a thunderstorm will be precisely located at many colleagues who currently do not belong to my destination, at the time of my arrival, wherever MMOPA, but should. We have much in common, and whenever that may be. No, I am not bitter much to share, and much to learn, from our and frustrated about that. Well, OK, yes, I am colleagues who own and fly pressurized singles bitter and frustrated.