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Sixteen days after the tornado hit, they were finally able to remove the wreckage from the hangar.
mission consideration is f lying our family (two adults, four kids, dog and bags) to Florida or Michigan. An example of one of my most restrictive missions – three people from Nashville to Marine City, Michigan (3,100-foot strip), no fuel, turn around and come back. This is no small ask for a jet.
By the Numbers
• Service Ceiling – FL 410, and you’ll go there easily on a standard day.
• Range – at FL 410, the advertised 1,150 NBAA IFR profile with 100 nm alternate is doable (although I tell people it’s a 1,000 nm airplane IFR with STARs). The airplane is miserly with fuel at 410. If you’re doing less than 900 nm, you’re going to be in the upper 30s and zipping along at max cruise speed. Trade off a bit of fuel for payload
and fill the seats.
• Useful Load – 3,380 lbs. The
2,580-pound fuel tanks provide a full fuel payload of 800 lbs. My whole family with bags and the dog weighs 1,100 lbs. We can fill the seats, bring whatever we want and go pretty much anywhere we regularly go (Florida, Michigan) with no issues.
• Speed – Cessna advertised a cruise speed of 340 kts, and it usually beats that a bit.
• Landing Distance – 2,390 at gross weight. You’ll land in half that if you’re light. It’s amazing. The short-field performance is remarkable.
• Baggage – Forward baggage is 20 cubic feet with a 320 pound- capacity, and the tail cone is 37
cubic feet with 300 pounds. Inside, the cabin has storage of 6 cubic feet and 98 pounds. I run out of room in the SUV before I run out of room in the airplane.
Modern Simplicity
One of the things that I love about the Mustang is the simplicity and reliability of the modern design. The Garmin G1000 (now with NXi) makes the avionics transition a breeze. The rows of warning lights are replaced by a digital readout on the MFD. Digital checklist, XM weather, onboard radar, TCAS and TIS. Almost everything is electric, served by two independent generators that automatically load shed in the event of a failure. FADEC engines. Single hydraulic system. The fuel system is simple and requires no interaction. LED lights and HID landing lights. Simple and effective anti-icing systems – turn it on, and that’s it. The wheel comes out from the panel, so you do not have to straddle a column going into the floor like most jets.
Cessna was very intentional about making this an owner-flown friendly jet, and they nailed it. By keeping things simple, they also made it very reliable. In three years of ownership, I’ve never canceled a mission because of a maintenance issue.
March 3, 2020
Last March, I woke up around 6 a.m. to multiple missed calls, texts and e-mails. “Are you OK?” “Are you home?” “Is the family OK?” As I was about to try and figure out what all of this was about, my phone rang – my FBO manager.
“Bryan, are you on a trip?”
“Um, no. What’s up?”
“Is the plane here?”
“Um, yes, shouldn’t you know that?” “I’m sorry, man. It’s gone.”
“What do you mean gone?”
The tornado that hit Nashville the night before was little more than a thunderstorm at our home. We slept through it. John C. Tune Airport (KJWN), however, was decimated. It was several days before I could even go to the airport. And it was 12 days before they found the wreckage of my plane (the last to be found) in the corner of one of the destroyed hangars. Sixteen days after the tornado hit, they were finally able to remove the wreckage from the hangar. Both wings were snapped, the tail was dangling, both wings were leaking fuel, the windshield was shattered, and the fuselage was so mangled that I couldn’t open the door.
It was a painful and emotional day.
So, Now What?
Early March 2020 was turbulent. The United States was heading into lockdown due to COVID-19, the stock market crashed, rates were cut, stimulus was discussed, the VIX spiked, and business froze. My clients (primarily small medical and dental practices) were all ordered closed. A stay at home lockdown? Will my business survive this? Will my clients stick with us? Can we continue to pay our staff? Oh, and what to do about the airplane.
My business (spread across eight states) depends on having access to
February 2021 / TWIN & TURBINE • 27