Post by Bill Von Sennet on Aug 22, 2008 22:09:31 GMT -5
Tom Goodrick
TWO FAST PIPERS - MIRAGE AND MERIDIAN
« on: Sep 17th, 2007, 10:25pm »
Comparison of Piper Mirage and Piper Meridian - Two Fast Pipers
(Turbocharged and Pressurized Single Piston versus Single Jet Prop.)
COMPARISON OF SPECS:
______________________MIRAGE__________MERIDIAN
MTOW________________4300 LB___________5092 LB
EW___________________3051 LB A.T._______3404 LB
USEFUL_______________1249 LB___________1688 LB
FUEL__________________122 GAL 732 LB____170 GAL 1139 LB
WING LOADING_________24.6 LB/SQ FT_____27.8 LB/SQ FT
MAX CLIMB____________1218 FPM__________1556 FPM (FS MODEL CLIMBS BETTER)
NORMAL CRUISE_______206 KTAS (20K FT)___260 KTAS (25K FT)
FUEL FLOW____________108 PPH____________250 PPH (25 K FT)
STALL LANDING_________60 KIAS____________61 KIAS
PRICE_________________$681,485____________$1,993,185
Sources: Mirage- AOPA PILOT, June 1995. Meridian- FLYING, november 2005.
The comparion is made using a round trip between Huntsville, AL, KHSV, and Auburn, AL, KAUO. There is a football game played at Auburn today (9/15/07). Real Weather is used. A front passed and left highs with strong northerly winds over the area. Both aircraft will cruise at 15,000 ft going down and 14,000 ft returning. The Mirage is only a little over half full of fuel with the 780 lbs of payload. That is plenty for one way of this round trip.
On takeoff we adjust the throttle for 90% power for climb. The winds a few hundred feet up are pushing us around pretty good. We make a right turn as we pass 800 ft and very quickly we are on course and on autopilot. The distance of 140 nm is so short that 15,000 ft seems a bit high. But there are broken clouds indicating some turbulence so we'd like to ride above them. (You can always repeat this flight in a slow and low plane.) We are gently rocked during climb. We note the sideslip gauge is showing plus or minus 0.5 degrees as we rock. The AoA gauge was showing plus or minus 1 degree until we passed through 10,000 ft. Then it became absolutely steady. As we finish the climb I switch tanks. The Mirage forces you to select from the left OR right tank. But it does not start drawing from one tank unless you change the setting. (This is one of the faults of FS.) We reach cruise level after 15 minutes with 104 nm to go. I set 75.5% power. The airspeed settles on 151 KIAS which gives 216 KGS today. We have a tail wind from 353 as we fly 152. The wind is 23 knots. At 19 minutes into the flight our ETE is 24 minutes. We cruised in a cloud for a while but it remained smooth. I figured descent would take 30 miles to get to 3000 feet. I had set power by the power meter. The settings were 2500 RPM and 31.75 inches.
As we started the descent we did a jig to the right of course to end up on the downwind leg. We set 15 inches and 2100 RPM for descent. On the autopilot we set -1500 fpm. Power was reduced to 15 inches and 2100 RPM for the descent. It worked out just right. We turned slightly to 180 for downwind just south of the center of the airport. There is only a localizer for the approach but it was under visual conditions. On final the wind was 4 from 348.
The landing was very smooth at 70.44 KIAS and -3 FPM. The flight took 49.7 minutes (to the parking place in a field near the central parking apron west of runway 36). The trip used 15.9 gallons. There is no need to refuel before the return flight. That's good considering the crowd of airplanes at the field.
Auburn lost. With the traffic the bus got us to the field just before 4:45. We do a quick inspection and get in line for takeoff. At 5:30 we are able to get onto the active runway (36). We climbed to 800 ft AGL and then turned onto the course for HSV. This time we kept the climb rate low at 500 FPM until we had 152 KIAS and then went to 1000 FPM to see if we couldn't find a better cruise climb at 90%. That didn't help in this case. Our airspeed settled on 120 and the climb rate had to be adjusted down to 800 FPM from 1000 FPM as we reached 11,000 ft. The temperatures stayed in the green.
Cruise went well but there ws a notable loss in ground speed with the wind on our nose.We started down about 40 nm out, making another jobg, this time to the left to get offset from the path then flew parallel to the path during the descent. Gear speed is so high on the Mirage that we could have lowered the gear to sow down after leaving cruise if we needed to. But we kept the speed up against the wind. A descent rate of -1200 fpm worked out fine, getting us to 4,000 ft well before reaching the traffic area for KHSV. We got in line for a straight-in approach to 36R.
We touched down 55.28 min after takeoff at 82.61 KIAS -79 FPM. We had 45.7 gallons in the tank. Our use for this leg was 15 gallons making 30.9 gallons for the round trip. Total flying time for the day was 105 minutes.
Next we will fly the same flight in the Pipwer Meridian, almost the same aircraft except for a turboprop engine on the nose. The Mirage is a turbocharged and pressurized piston aircraft. The Meridian has a genuine jet engine turning a four-blade prop. It climbs very quickly. Normal cruise is 175 KIAS and whatever the altitude allows for true airspeed - usually about 250 knots. To keep the landing speed low with the single engine, Piper opted to use essentially the same airframe in the Meridian as in the Malibu. That limits the indicated airspeed to a max of 186 KIAS. Trying to raise that would require adding more weight for a structural beef-up.
We start our fictitious journey again at 9 am Saturday morning to get to Auburn and to the stadium by the 12 pm kickoff time. With the 780 lb payload, we can get just under 80% fuel and stay below the 5092 lb max takeoff weight.
Takeoff is fast and the climb is steep. Full power at the start going to 80% at lift-off. We had set the autopilot heading to 360 and switched it on with a climb rate of 2500 fpm as we passed 2000 ft. A minute later we started a right turn to 180 to stay short of the Redstone mortar test range and intercept our course south of the base. At 12000 we reduced climb rate to 2000 fpm reached cruise altitude a minute and a half later. It took about 7 minutes to make the takeoff, climb to 15,000 ft and get on course (152 degrees) for cruise. 67% throttle is holding us at 176 KIAS. We are making 250 knots good on the ground with our 23 knot tail wind. At 13 minutes into the flight we switch tanks. Cruise went by very quickly. At 30 minutes into the flight we were 30 minutes out. The throttle came back to flight idle and we came down at 2000 fpm. We do anothe offset to the west and continue parallel to the original course, expecting to enter a downwind for 36.
We got down to 3,000 ft just in time to turn onto 180 for a downwind to 36. 32% throttle gave a slow speed of 130 KIAS in the pattern. We kept up with the Citations. The landing was smooth at 74.64 KIAS and -35 FPM. It took 43.50 min. We used 20.6 gallons of Jet A (probably with the additive to keep it from freezing).
The main difference between the takeoff and climb in the jet compared to the same in the piston aircraft is that, because everything happens in rapid succession, you must be prepared ahead of time. The autopilot is all set up for runway heading, cruise altitude and proper rate of climb (2500 fpm) before you roll onto the active runway. We made a brief manual turn to intercept the cruise course before turning on the autopilot at about 5,000 ft.
Full power is used for takeoff with reduction to 80% as the wheels come up. in cruise at 14,000 ft the power comes back to 67% for 176-180 KIAS. Our cruise speed is reduced by the wind to 209 knots. At 15 minutes into the flight our ETE is 25 minutes. We have a good display of fuel on each side right next to the fuel selector. We have manged to keep the fuel close to equal per side for balance. The most important thing is not to forget it. Drawing all the fuel for one leg from one tank can make you dangerously out of lateral balance. It does seem to take a bit longer in cruise going against this 23 knot wind while the engine burns 228 lbs of fuel per hour (34 gph).
At 38 nm out we begin our descent with the jig to the west to get an offset. We reached 2500 ft about 12 nm out and nearly lined up with the approach to 36. We kept the speed up to 150 KIAS with 37% throttle until nearly on the glideslope. Then we dropped the gear and throttled back to about 20% as we got settled on the approach. The wind shifted considerable from 270 to 90 through 360. But the last mile or so was with 4 mph from 70 degrees so it was no problem. We touched down at 79.36 KIAS and -102 FPM. This leg took 45.93 minutes and used 23.2 gallons of Jet A. For the total trip we spent 89.43 minutes flying and used 43.8 gallons.
Comparing the jet to the piston, we saved 15.6 minutes overall (15% time) at a fuel cost of $3.31 per minute. Is that worth it? Consider also that you could buy 2.94 Mirage aircraft for the price of 1 Meridian. (OK, buy 3 of them!) Then on the fuel you would save (at the present average of $4 per gallon for both av gas 100 and Jet A), every 2.4 years you could buy another Mirage! Then there are the costs of insurance and crew training which are higher for the jet. (I understand that maintenance costs would be about the same.)
Might as well buy an Eclipse or a Cessna 510 Mustang and have real fun!
TWO FAST PIPERS - MIRAGE AND MERIDIAN
« on: Sep 17th, 2007, 10:25pm »
Comparison of Piper Mirage and Piper Meridian - Two Fast Pipers
(Turbocharged and Pressurized Single Piston versus Single Jet Prop.)
COMPARISON OF SPECS:
______________________MIRAGE__________MERIDIAN
MTOW________________4300 LB___________5092 LB
EW___________________3051 LB A.T._______3404 LB
USEFUL_______________1249 LB___________1688 LB
FUEL__________________122 GAL 732 LB____170 GAL 1139 LB
WING LOADING_________24.6 LB/SQ FT_____27.8 LB/SQ FT
MAX CLIMB____________1218 FPM__________1556 FPM (FS MODEL CLIMBS BETTER)
NORMAL CRUISE_______206 KTAS (20K FT)___260 KTAS (25K FT)
FUEL FLOW____________108 PPH____________250 PPH (25 K FT)
STALL LANDING_________60 KIAS____________61 KIAS
PRICE_________________$681,485____________$1,993,185
Sources: Mirage- AOPA PILOT, June 1995. Meridian- FLYING, november 2005.
The comparion is made using a round trip between Huntsville, AL, KHSV, and Auburn, AL, KAUO. There is a football game played at Auburn today (9/15/07). Real Weather is used. A front passed and left highs with strong northerly winds over the area. Both aircraft will cruise at 15,000 ft going down and 14,000 ft returning. The Mirage is only a little over half full of fuel with the 780 lbs of payload. That is plenty for one way of this round trip.
On takeoff we adjust the throttle for 90% power for climb. The winds a few hundred feet up are pushing us around pretty good. We make a right turn as we pass 800 ft and very quickly we are on course and on autopilot. The distance of 140 nm is so short that 15,000 ft seems a bit high. But there are broken clouds indicating some turbulence so we'd like to ride above them. (You can always repeat this flight in a slow and low plane.) We are gently rocked during climb. We note the sideslip gauge is showing plus or minus 0.5 degrees as we rock. The AoA gauge was showing plus or minus 1 degree until we passed through 10,000 ft. Then it became absolutely steady. As we finish the climb I switch tanks. The Mirage forces you to select from the left OR right tank. But it does not start drawing from one tank unless you change the setting. (This is one of the faults of FS.) We reach cruise level after 15 minutes with 104 nm to go. I set 75.5% power. The airspeed settles on 151 KIAS which gives 216 KGS today. We have a tail wind from 353 as we fly 152. The wind is 23 knots. At 19 minutes into the flight our ETE is 24 minutes. We cruised in a cloud for a while but it remained smooth. I figured descent would take 30 miles to get to 3000 feet. I had set power by the power meter. The settings were 2500 RPM and 31.75 inches.
As we started the descent we did a jig to the right of course to end up on the downwind leg. We set 15 inches and 2100 RPM for descent. On the autopilot we set -1500 fpm. Power was reduced to 15 inches and 2100 RPM for the descent. It worked out just right. We turned slightly to 180 for downwind just south of the center of the airport. There is only a localizer for the approach but it was under visual conditions. On final the wind was 4 from 348.
The landing was very smooth at 70.44 KIAS and -3 FPM. The flight took 49.7 minutes (to the parking place in a field near the central parking apron west of runway 36). The trip used 15.9 gallons. There is no need to refuel before the return flight. That's good considering the crowd of airplanes at the field.
Auburn lost. With the traffic the bus got us to the field just before 4:45. We do a quick inspection and get in line for takeoff. At 5:30 we are able to get onto the active runway (36). We climbed to 800 ft AGL and then turned onto the course for HSV. This time we kept the climb rate low at 500 FPM until we had 152 KIAS and then went to 1000 FPM to see if we couldn't find a better cruise climb at 90%. That didn't help in this case. Our airspeed settled on 120 and the climb rate had to be adjusted down to 800 FPM from 1000 FPM as we reached 11,000 ft. The temperatures stayed in the green.
Cruise went well but there ws a notable loss in ground speed with the wind on our nose.We started down about 40 nm out, making another jobg, this time to the left to get offset from the path then flew parallel to the path during the descent. Gear speed is so high on the Mirage that we could have lowered the gear to sow down after leaving cruise if we needed to. But we kept the speed up against the wind. A descent rate of -1200 fpm worked out fine, getting us to 4,000 ft well before reaching the traffic area for KHSV. We got in line for a straight-in approach to 36R.
We touched down 55.28 min after takeoff at 82.61 KIAS -79 FPM. We had 45.7 gallons in the tank. Our use for this leg was 15 gallons making 30.9 gallons for the round trip. Total flying time for the day was 105 minutes.
Next we will fly the same flight in the Pipwer Meridian, almost the same aircraft except for a turboprop engine on the nose. The Mirage is a turbocharged and pressurized piston aircraft. The Meridian has a genuine jet engine turning a four-blade prop. It climbs very quickly. Normal cruise is 175 KIAS and whatever the altitude allows for true airspeed - usually about 250 knots. To keep the landing speed low with the single engine, Piper opted to use essentially the same airframe in the Meridian as in the Malibu. That limits the indicated airspeed to a max of 186 KIAS. Trying to raise that would require adding more weight for a structural beef-up.
We start our fictitious journey again at 9 am Saturday morning to get to Auburn and to the stadium by the 12 pm kickoff time. With the 780 lb payload, we can get just under 80% fuel and stay below the 5092 lb max takeoff weight.
Takeoff is fast and the climb is steep. Full power at the start going to 80% at lift-off. We had set the autopilot heading to 360 and switched it on with a climb rate of 2500 fpm as we passed 2000 ft. A minute later we started a right turn to 180 to stay short of the Redstone mortar test range and intercept our course south of the base. At 12000 we reduced climb rate to 2000 fpm reached cruise altitude a minute and a half later. It took about 7 minutes to make the takeoff, climb to 15,000 ft and get on course (152 degrees) for cruise. 67% throttle is holding us at 176 KIAS. We are making 250 knots good on the ground with our 23 knot tail wind. At 13 minutes into the flight we switch tanks. Cruise went by very quickly. At 30 minutes into the flight we were 30 minutes out. The throttle came back to flight idle and we came down at 2000 fpm. We do anothe offset to the west and continue parallel to the original course, expecting to enter a downwind for 36.
We got down to 3,000 ft just in time to turn onto 180 for a downwind to 36. 32% throttle gave a slow speed of 130 KIAS in the pattern. We kept up with the Citations. The landing was smooth at 74.64 KIAS and -35 FPM. It took 43.50 min. We used 20.6 gallons of Jet A (probably with the additive to keep it from freezing).
The main difference between the takeoff and climb in the jet compared to the same in the piston aircraft is that, because everything happens in rapid succession, you must be prepared ahead of time. The autopilot is all set up for runway heading, cruise altitude and proper rate of climb (2500 fpm) before you roll onto the active runway. We made a brief manual turn to intercept the cruise course before turning on the autopilot at about 5,000 ft.
Full power is used for takeoff with reduction to 80% as the wheels come up. in cruise at 14,000 ft the power comes back to 67% for 176-180 KIAS. Our cruise speed is reduced by the wind to 209 knots. At 15 minutes into the flight our ETE is 25 minutes. We have a good display of fuel on each side right next to the fuel selector. We have manged to keep the fuel close to equal per side for balance. The most important thing is not to forget it. Drawing all the fuel for one leg from one tank can make you dangerously out of lateral balance. It does seem to take a bit longer in cruise going against this 23 knot wind while the engine burns 228 lbs of fuel per hour (34 gph).
At 38 nm out we begin our descent with the jig to the west to get an offset. We reached 2500 ft about 12 nm out and nearly lined up with the approach to 36. We kept the speed up to 150 KIAS with 37% throttle until nearly on the glideslope. Then we dropped the gear and throttled back to about 20% as we got settled on the approach. The wind shifted considerable from 270 to 90 through 360. But the last mile or so was with 4 mph from 70 degrees so it was no problem. We touched down at 79.36 KIAS and -102 FPM. This leg took 45.93 minutes and used 23.2 gallons of Jet A. For the total trip we spent 89.43 minutes flying and used 43.8 gallons.
Comparing the jet to the piston, we saved 15.6 minutes overall (15% time) at a fuel cost of $3.31 per minute. Is that worth it? Consider also that you could buy 2.94 Mirage aircraft for the price of 1 Meridian. (OK, buy 3 of them!) Then on the fuel you would save (at the present average of $4 per gallon for both av gas 100 and Jet A), every 2.4 years you could buy another Mirage! Then there are the costs of insurance and crew training which are higher for the jet. (I understand that maintenance costs would be about the same.)
Might as well buy an Eclipse or a Cessna 510 Mustang and have real fun!
