Malibu owners convention

[kmead]

Some of us PA46 owners showed up and some didn't. This was our 20th annual convention over the last weekend, held at Amelia Island. I've been to them all. Great weather both ways ( 4.8 hrs out and about 5.9 home. There were about 90 PA46 airframes on the field, not a record but good.

The new improved Piper Jet Mock-up was there along with the new Piper light sport. Their new LSA looks great, I've never seen a choke on an airplane before.

Kevin

 

[rpadula]

Nice pics, Kevin. Amelia is nice. The Commander Owners just had their fly-in at St. Simons close by. Another beautiful spot.

I have to commend you on your photographic skills. I can't believe you caught Sen. Inhofe's departure like that. Nicely done.

 

[SCCutler]

Nice pics, Kevin. Amelia is nice. The Commander Owners just had their fly-in at St. Simons close by. Another beautiful spot.

I have to commend you on your photographic skills. I can't believe you caught Sen. Inhofe's departure like that. Nicely done.

That rat there is funny!

 

[Capt.Crash'n'Burn]

Did all the turboprops scare away the piston planes??

 

[flyersfan31]

Dealers are very unhappy about the LSA. THey were, at least, in the months after the announcement. Dunno if Piper has answered all the unanswered questions, and fixed the revenue setup.

Kevin, what was the average age of attendee at the convention? I look at photos of such gatherings and it's usually a bunch of 60-somethings.

 

[Ken Ibold]

I was hoping to make it this year, maybe hawk some books, but I was working in lovely Toledo instead.

MMOPA has a fair number of younger entrepreneurial types, at least the last one I went to did. Sure there is the contingent of wealthy retirees. But also the docs in their 40s-50s. Once upon a time there were the real estate developers in their 30s and 40s, but I suspect they're not as prevalent these days.

 

[rpadula]

That rat there is funny!

Thanks, Spike.

I finally got around to buying a new copy of Photoshop Elements to replace the creaky old version of PS I had that quit working when Apple changed from OS X 10.4 to 10.5. Now I can get back to doing what I love to do - slap some things together for comedy effect. When I saw that big X on the end of the runway behind those Malibus, that was the first thing that popped into my mind!

 

[NC Pilot]

My hanger neighbor just sold his Meridian and bought a new one. Did it primarily to get the G1000. Looks like a nice bird.

 

[kmead]

I would say that the average age of the owners was 45 to 50. A lot of the older owners have stopped flying or moved up to the next level or two. The safety report was really bad, the PA 46 seems to be much higher than other aircraft groups of same type of performance. The owners break-out group sessions were really good (not enough time)

It's not too late to sign up for the Hilton head safety class in less than 2 weeks. I need to fly out to the east coast again to teach the maintenance part. These are really good, Mona does a great job setting them up.

Kevin

 

[flyersfan31]

Any thoughts on why the record is so bad? Too much plane, not enough pilot?? I think the airframe is solid, although you would be a better judge of that than I. There is no huge difference between the Mirage and Matrix - and I don't find the Matrix a particularly challenging aircraft to fly. Fly the numbers, don't fly into thunderstorms, avoid freezing rain, keep the CHTs below 380F. How hard can it be?

The Meridian is fun from a powerplant perspective. It's load is so limited though. 100lbs in the rear? Even if you dump stuff in a pax seat its capabilities are limited. Great for single pilot ops though; I flew one and had a blast.