Long Cross Country in Piper Mirage

Come fly with us halfway across the country in a few quick hours thanks to some incredible tailwinds and nice weather. We took off from Long Beach in the morning and landed in Austin before dinner with a stop in El Paso along the way.
N715BB
Piper PA-46 Malibu Mirage

[@MikeKobb]

I had to laugh just a little when your boy was going back from the cockpit to the main cabin again, because even a toddler has challenges getting between those PA-46 front seats! 😉 Such a cool plane. I wish I fit better in them.

[@TaftLove]

Haha so true! Have you seen any of the videos with Chris, my 6’7” and 265lb friend? Now that’s a tight squeeze!

[@MikeKobb]

@@TaftLove I have! Yeah, that’s about how I felt when I was sitting in the right seat of a JetProp. I’m only 6’1”, but I’m not slender. Enjoying your videos! Thanks for sharing them.

[@dryreed]

You are the first pilot I have ever heard thankful for incredible headwinds!

[@TaftLove]

Haha just a typo. Good catch!

[@_S_Aydin_]

Thanks..

[@TomCook1993]

“I find your lack of centerline is disturbing” -Darth Vader, DPE Also that pyramid is the gym on the Cal State Long Beach campus

[@TaftLove]

Hahaha fair. Not first time I’ve gotten in trouble for that. “It’s there for the professionals, but we can use it too, you know…”

[@rrad3926]

Look at your copilot! He'll be flying in no time.

[@TaftLove]

He’s definitely into airplanes - one of these days!

[@westernair1632]

Wow Texas is so flat! I'm planning a similar trip in my A36 - SF to KELP to KTYR (Tyler). Looks like an easy flight for you.

[@TaftLove]

Yeah not a bad flight at all. SF to El Paso wouldn’t be too hard in the Bonanza on the victor airways. That’ll be fun!

[@mmaurice100]

Hope you have some videos planned for that Mexico trip. Done the Caribbean and Canada but not Mexico.

[@TaftLove]

Coming soon. Working on one right now!

[@malibujack4852]

Can you not make LA to Austin non-stop? We just did a trip from LA to north Dallas non-stop in our Malibu in less than 4.5 hours. We landed with 3.5 hours of fuel remaining. I guess the Lycomings in the Mirages are burning substantially more fuel. Our Continental burns 15 gph in cruise.

[@TaftLove]

Your continental is a lot more efficient than my Lycoming. We get 205ktas up high for ~20gph. I can make that trip with good tailwind but I’d be cutting it really close. Also - bathroom breaks :-)

[@malibujack4852]

@@TaftLove got it. Yeah, we get 205 LOP or about 225 ROP. They are great airplanes. Enjoy!

[@billbarnard7328]

Noticed your plane is for sale?

[@TaftLove]

Yes it is. Planning to downsize for a bit. Want to move up to turboprop eventually and need another ~400 hours. My family doesn’t like traveling in this airplane as much as I’d hoped, so feels wasteful burning this much gas for short hops or flying alone.

[@Tejtd]

@@TaftLove Why don't they like traveling in it? Thinking of upgrading from my 182

[@TaftLove]

@@Tejtd good question. I think it has more to do with my son’s age than not liking to fly. He’s 2 and very high energy, a pain in an airplane. It ends up that I have a blast and my wife hates wrangling him alone.

[@Tejtd]

@@TaftLove Ahh that's fair, its a fairly comfortable, stable, and relatively quiet plane right? I also want to get into the Turbo props one day, this seems like a good step up for faster/ longer trips without getting too much crazier cost wise from the 182 right?

[@TaftLove]

@@Tejtd yes 100%. It was a great step up from a SR-22 for me. It’s got low wing loading, so you feel a lot of the bumps, but it’s a truly wonderful plane!

[@Parr4theCourse]

See you switched from Bose Pro 2’s to regular headset which do you like better and why? I was thinking of going to the Bose 2’s

[@TaftLove]

If the Pro2s are the low profile in-ear ones, I really liked the idea of them, but after an hour or so, they hurt the area just around my ear holes.