TBM time
Today I took delivery of a TBM 900. It's slightly used, with 280 hours of time on it, but by all appearances looks brand new. It's billed as the fastest single engine turbo-prop and with a typical cruise speed in the area of 325kts, I believe it. A few things drew me to this particular model. I was able to get a demo ride in a similar one late last year, a 930 model, and found I liked it much more than I expected to. It's powered by the well-proven PT6 turboprop engine that offers huge amounts of horsepower (850 in this install) coupled to relatively quiet and very reliable operation. Coming from a Cirrus SR22, this airplane is basically 2x in all respects - twice the speed, twice the altitude, twice the load carrying capability, and darn near twice the range on full tanks. The costs involved are more than 2x, but that is life in aviation. Since moving to Texas, our family of four has had a desire to fly back to SC and GA more easily, and more quickly. ...