What is your opinion of SOCATA airplanes? (jet, engines)

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

If you had the money, would you buy one or would you prefer another make?

[wheelsup]

Well built especially the TBM 700/800 series. Incredibly fast with good low speed performance.

[BLS2753]

Rather have a light jet for the money. Only reason to own a TBM is to get in and out of short runways, or if the owner is too cheap to feed 2 engines.

[PacoMartin]

I would rather have a Piaggio P.180 Avanti, but that is not a fair comparison given it costs twice as much.

TBM 900 ($3.711 Million)
Range: 1,582 nm
Crew: one or two pilots
Max. takeoff weight: 3,353 kg
Cruise speed: 330 knots
Rate of climb: 12.09 m/s


Piaggio P.180 Avanti ($7 million)
Range: 1,509 nm
Crew: one or two pilots
Capacity: up to nine passengers
Max. takeoff weight: 5,239 kg
Cruise speed: 356 knots
Rate of climb: 15 m/s (2,953 ft/min)

[wheelsup]

Originally Posted by PacoMartin

I would rather have a Piaggio P.180 Avanti, but that is not a fair comparison given it costs twice as much.

TBM 900 ($3.711 Million)
Range: 1,582 nm
Crew: one or two pilots
Max. takeoff weight: 3,353 kg
Cruise speed: 330 knots
Rate of climb: 12.09 m/s


Piaggio P.180 Avanti ($7 million)
Range: 1,509 nm
Crew: one or two pilots
Capacity: up to nine passengers
Max. takeoff weight: 5,239 kg
Cruise speed: 356 knots
Rate of climb: 15 m/s (2,953 ft/min)

What is the mission? Do you need to carry 8 people or 3-4? The Avanti burns twice as much and has nearly double the DOC of the TBM. Two completely different planes for two different missions.

[DMenscha]

I'd rather have the Swiss watch of aircraft, the Pilatus PC-12.

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by wheelsup

What is the mission? Do you need to carry 8 people or 3-4? The Avanti burns twice as much and has nearly double the DOC of the TBM. Two completely different planes for two different missions.

Obviously, if you have about $4m to spend, and you plan to fly 1515 nm from LAX to Chicago you might go for the the TBM instead of a faster jet shorter range jet with smaller payload.

TBM 900 ($3.711 Million)
Range: 1,582 nm
Crew: one or two pilots
Max. takeoff weight: 3,353 kg
Cruise speed: 330 knots
Rate of climb: 12.09 m/s

Phenom 100 ($4.4 Million)
Range: 1,178 nm
Crew: 1 or 2 pilots
Capacity: 4 passengers standard (6 maximum)
Max. takeoff weight: 4,750 kg
Cruise speed: 389 knots
Rate of climb: 17.4 m/s


I stated up front that Avanti was a different level of plane, but if I am paying half as much money, I like to see what kind of reduction in performance I would take.

[Wally Sconce]

Originally Posted by PacoMartin

I would rather have a Piaggio P.180 Avanti, but that is not a fair comparison given it costs twice as much.

TBM 900 ($3.711 Million)
Range: 1,582 nm
Crew: one or two pilots
Max. takeoff weight: 3,353 kg
Cruise speed: 330 knots
Rate of climb: 12.09 m/s


Piaggio P.180 Avanti ($7 million)
Range: 1,509 nm
Crew: one or two pilots
Capacity: up to nine passengers
Max. takeoff weight: 5,239 kg
Cruise speed: 356 knots
Rate of climb: 15 m/s (2,953 ft/min)

You could have got a Piaggio for dirt cheap.


Sold for 1.3 million CDN....RCMP sells sleek plane for half of asking price - Politics - CBC News

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by Wally Sconce

Sold for 1.3 million CDN....

The article says it has a range of 1500 km, but I thought it was 1500 nm. I would agree that a business plane that carries 9 people only 1500km is very limited.

A Cessna Caravan has a range of 2000km (slowly at 186 ktas) and can carry 10-14 people.

I don't think a government executive ever got into trouble buying a Cessna Grand Caravan. You can trick them out with a nice interior, but they are basically the minivans of corporate aircraft.

[BLS2753]

The Avanti is an oddball airplane. It doesn't do anything a 40 year old Citation I can't do for $500k. And the old Citation is probably cheaper to maintain and is definitely easier to fly. The Avanti is notorious for high approach speeds and tricky ground handling.