Articles

Malibu Moment

By Sandi Smith

A few facts about the airplane that was used to travel around the world:

Type: Piper Malibu (PA46 - 310P)

Engine: Teledyne Continental TSIO520BE-1 (310 horsepower twin-turbosupercharged intercooled fuel-injected horizontally opposed air-cooled piston engine). Fuel for this engine (100 octane aviation gas) can be difficult to find or non-existent in many countries.

Number of seats: 6 (4 removed for this trip)

Maximum authorized altitude: 25,000 ft. (Cabin pressurized to 8,000 feet)
Typical altitudes during this trip: 13,000 to 19,000 (As low as 500 ft off coast of Hawaii between Honolulu and Hilo, 25,000 Oakland to Dallas)

Maximum speed at 25,000 ft.: 210 knots (242 mph)
Typical cruise speeds on this trip: 170 knots (196 mph) at 13,000; 190 knots (219 mph) at 19,000

Normal fuel capacity: 120 gallons
Fuel capacity with additional cabin tank: 240 gallons

Maximum aircraft weight on takeoff: 4,100 lbs.
Maximum FAAA-authorized overweight on takeoff for this trip: 5,125 lbs.

Normal maximum range: 1,550 nautical miles (1,784 statute miles)
Range with extra tank: 2,900 nautical miles (3,337 statute miles) Note: The extra fuel tank requires higher power settings and lower altitudes, decreasing fuel efficiency.

Communications equipment: 2 VHF, plus High Frequency (long range, for this trip), encoding ATC transponder

Navigation equipment: 2 Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) receivers and computers, 1 LORAN-C, 2 VHF receivers with Area Navigation (RNAV) and Instrument Landing System (ILS), automatic direction finder (ADF), Marker Beacon, Vertical Profile color radar.

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