The Misunderstood Mitsubishi MU-2

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Dedicated to Denise, my daughter

PREFACE

As soon as I knew that Nicola wanted to tell the story of Mitsubishi MU-2, I volunteered to write the preface because this aircraft has been a masterpiece of aeronautic industry since the start. Nicola, a great connoisseur and enthusiast of the small Japanese turboprop engine, is like a son to me. His father, Alberto, started working for me when he was 17, a man who most contributed to our activities. Nicola has never abandoned the aircraft since when it landed for the first time in Bolzano (ICAO – L1PB), city in which it was based.

Having to speed up the development of our activities in the early ‘80s, we found ourselves in need to shorten times and distances between our new AUTEX-PO’ seat and the European countries that were becoming increasingly more habitual targets. Bolzano did not have an airport open to commercial flights, just a military airport for civilian flights for aircrafts able to function without particular air traffic control. Night flights were not authorized; we therefore had to pay particular attention to the area’s ephemerides and meteorological conditions, snow and ice included during the winter season. My wife, Renata, and I studied to get a pilot’s license with in mind the international development of our business, the many days lost to reach our destinations beyond the Alps, and the isolation of our town from strategic sites. As soon as we passed, we started flying a small and slow Cessna of the local Aeroclub, but we soon realized that transfers aboard those airplanes were often inconvenient when compared to trips by car or train.

The only true aircraft of general aviation capable of operating without any problems and in all meteorological conditions on the short runway of Bolzano, and on all the minor runways of which Europe is disseminated, was Mitsubishi MU-2. The aircraft was what we needed, an eight seat pressurized cabin of highly robust construction with an exceptional performance not only in quick climbs, but also in fast descents which offered the aircraft characteristics more similar to the ones of a fighter jet than to a civilian aircraft. Endowed with the best equipment available at the time, it could make the most prestigious airplane envious. It was right in that timeframe (1985) that a MU-2 Solitaire was put on sale by an entrepreneur in Rome who flew to Bolzano to show it to us. We bought it right there for the amount of $650,000. We sold it after ten years of honorable service for an even higher amount, this thanks to its unique characteristics. It was the ideal aircraft for habitual transfers; capable of climbing with a climb rate speed equal to 3,000 feet/minute up to the height of 30,000 feet, often reduced to 27,000 not to interfere with airliners’ traffic, single-pilot certified. With its increased fuel capacity it consumes 50% less when compared to the jets of the same category although it offered similar performances and allowed us non-stop routes. I remember that one day I left Bolzano early directed to Turin where they were waiting for me to sign a contract; then I had to fly to Madrid for an important meeting, to Suttgart for another meeting, and be at home for dinner. A similar timetable would have required a week was it not for MU-2’s help. I anyhow realized that I had reached a turning point, I had to choose if I wanted to dedicate all my energies to my job or to flying with all the bureaucracy that it entailed. I thus started looking for a professional pilot able to operate the aircraft in all safety, undoubtedly not a first time pilot. The first was Bruno Fraccaroli, ex-miliatry pilot, while the second was Martin Rabanser, a professional who came form commercial flights.

Finally, I can state that Mitsubishi MU-2 has not only been an indispensable working tool but also an aircraft that has given us wonderful emotions besides the numerous autonomous and safe flights in the European sky. The book that narrates the story of this powerful aircraft offers an entertaining, although technical reading that cannot go amiss in the homes of all those pilots who are fond of flying.

Romano Artioli

INTRODUCTION

I am definitely sure about one thing: I was born mad for flying. Unluckily, because of a series of family circumstances, I have never become a pilot!

Since when I was a kid I have dedicated any free moment to the study of flight and aircraft aerodynamics, with particular interest in turboprop aircrafts, undoubtedly my favorite.

I remember that since the age of four on Sundays, my father often set me on the seat of his bike and took me to the airport, from where I would have never wanted to get away.

While he chatted with Romano and Renata Artioli (whom we owe the rebirth of the Bugatti car trademark) who were studying to earn a pilot’s license and alternated with school flights, I admired the small planes that arrived at Bolzano airport over the weekends.

You might ask where and how my passion for Mitsubishi MU-2 was born, such a controversial and at the same time fascinating aircraft, as far as I know.

It was born in Bolzano. The airport at the time had a 1,040-meter-cement runway, of which just 940 could be used; it also had a second shorter grass runway for gliders. An actual control tower did not exist, there was a one-floor structure where the traffic controller often looked out of the windows with the binoculars to be more aware of the existing traffic. Other times!

I saw the Mu-2 for the first time in the spring of 1980, although I cannot sincerely state it was love at first sight. The owner, the local Aeroclub President and entrepreneur, showed it to Romano, and kindly invited us to see it. It was white with the interiors in blue velvet, at the time much on fashion. The registration acronym was I-NARI. I indicated the home country, Italy, while NARI evocated the Goddess of Rice. His aircraft flies now in Venezuela.

Five years went by and in 1985, Romano Artioli, fascinated by its excellent performance, decided to acquire a Mitsubishi MU-2. I often saw him sailing the sky of the town on takeoff or when approaching, leaving behind the unmistakable hiss of its turbines.

As soon as I was 16 I bought a moped only to get to the airport on my own. I started spending my afternoons there, in the hangar with the pilots and the mechanics. It was on one of these occasions that I could first see Romano’s Mitsubishi closeby. At the time there were no fences, no gates, and it was possible to get near the planes. Its original exterior, still unique and matchless was emerald green with stripes in two different tones of grey, while di interiors were in fine beige leather.

November 1989: I-FRTL in the hangar for gear maintenance

I shyly asked the pilot some information. We did not have the Internet in those years and the only way to study was to buy specialized books or to wait for the new issue of monthly reviews I promptly gulped down. I started to like that aircraft I had seen for the first time several years before, although I would have never thought that years later I would dedicate a whole book to it. I looked at it while I dreamt of flying in it. Two long years went by, and finally my dream came true. Towards the end of November 1989 I was at the airport; the aircraft had just come out of the hangar where it had undergone a small maintenance to the retractable gear. Martin, the pilot, got approached and asked me: Nicola, we are going on a test flight in about ten minutes. Do you want to come? My answer, as you can easily imagine, was: Yes, very willingly. I asked him to call home to let my mother know that I was going to fly. For years she had had a love-hate relationship with airplanes, but taken by surprise, she did not have time enough to realize, and agreed with ill-concealed fear. Had she not agreed, she could have done little. In just about a few minutes I was in fact already aboard with my seatbelts fastened. I can clearly remember the emotion of every single phase of the flight; the switching on of the powerful turbines, the taxiing, the acceleration of the takeoff, the climb with the Dolomites close-by, white with fresh snow enlightened by the clear sky and the shining sun, a hard to describe view. The approaching and landing made me understand that my amusement was to end but unexpectedly the pilot decided to realign and go for a second flight I enjoyed with increased awareness. I even glimpsed at my mother who greeted me from my home garden by waving a white cloth during the closing banking turn over my home for its following alignment with the runway.

That was just one of the many flights I took along the years thanks to Romano’s and Renata’s generosity who allowed me to live wonderful experiences in the European sky aboard their Mitsubishi MU-2 registered I-FRTL.

I am today the Editor of the first Italian aviation magazine and although I have not become a pilot, even if I have the chance to fly with friends, I still consider myself lucky to belong to a restricted group of people who admire the world from a different perspective that just few have known.

CHAPTER I

THE IDEA OF A REVOLUTIONARY TURBOPROP

I would not like to seem irreverent but we definitely cannot say that Mitsubishi MU-2 is an aircraft with a sleek and modern line according to the latest standards. Yet