Anyone flown a TBM700/850?

[gkrangers]

Was reading an article about the TBM-850 in AOPA Mag today..god that thing looks amazing...anyone flown one?

 

[groundpointsix]

I ride right seat in a 700 on occasion and fly on the empty legs. It's got to be the most complicated single out there. It flies great in smooth air but rides hard in turbulence. It's pretty cool though to fly an airplane that cruises at over 300 knots and yet be able to slow it down to 172 speeds for the approach.

 

[minitour]

I ride right seat in a 700 on occasion and fly on the empty legs. It's got to be the most complicated single out there. It flies great in smooth air but rides hard in turbulence. It's pretty cool though to fly an airplane that cruises at over 300 knots and yet be able to slow it down to 172 speeds for the approach.

How does it compare to a PC12?

-mini

 

[A1FlyBoy]

TBM-700 is fast, the 850 by 25kts more. It is a rocket (sports car) compared to the PC-12. Such aircraft give, and will be giving, the VLJ (very light jets) a run for their money.

 

[gkrangers]

Complicated because of managing the turbine?

 

[sleddriver71]

I've never flown the TBM, but I have a couple hundred hours in the PC-12. The TBM is clearly faster although it is a lot smaller inside and out than the PC-12. I don't know what approach speeds are in the TBM but if in the PC-12 the approach speeds for various flap configurations are between 84-118 kias unless we're doing an instrument approach which we typically fly with flaps 15 and 120 kias. I saw a sim for the TBM 700 at SIMCOM, it looks really tight inside the cockpit compared to the PC-12.

 

[groundpointsix]

Complicated because of managing the turbine?

No, absolutely not. Turbine engines are 10 times easier to manage than a turbocharged piston. Need to get down? Chop the power to idle. Can't do that in a piston.

The TBM is complicated because it is an advanced aircraft. It is just that relative to most other singles out there it has a lot of systems that need to be taken care of. I suppose it's probably probably comparable to a PC-12 in that regard, though I have no experience. In my opinion, the panel is poorly designed. Unlike most other aircraft I have experience with, the various controls on the panel are not located in such a way that you can develop a logical flow. To do things by the checklist you have to run back and forth accross the panel several times.

Fortunately, the automation is fantastic on the TBM and alleviates a lot of the workload.

 

[satpak77]

i would by a PC-12 and fly 30 knots slower twice as far with twice the cargo

the used market for PC-12's is very dry right now, compared to TBM market. That should say something.