I stumbled upon this old news that Malibu Aerospace was working on a FADEC Malibu/Mirage.
It seems like they wanted to equip the airplane with a TCM TSIOF-550 J. The engine seems to be certified although not sure if any airplane is using it today.
I also found these old pages on archive.org advertising the “M-6” FADEC upgrade claiming 15kts cruise speed increase, increased fuel economy, etc. This late 2013 snapshot was the last entry I could find of the M-6 mod being mentioned on their homepage. Does anyone know what happened to the project?
Jonas
Chad Menne gave up on the project as he (very likely) suspected that the price difference of retrofitting that engine vs going to the turbine conversion (Jetprop) would not be large enough to generate sufficient demand. Shame, he got really good results over hundreds of hours of running it.
I mean the upgrade is one thing but the Jetprop is probably significantly more expensive to operate than the piston version (including hot section inspection etc.).
PepperJo wrote:
I mean the upgrade is one thing but the Jetprop is probably significantly more expensive to operate than the piston version (including hot section inspection etc.).
No. My view is the turbine PA46 aircraft cost less to operate than the pistons.
JasonC wrote:
No. My view is the turbine PA46 aircraft cost less to operate than the pistons.
Isn’t fuel burn around double compared to the Piston Malibu. Normal cruise 200 vs 260kts. Does not add up to me?
Ok I stand corrected: Cost_per_hour_pdf
But might look different here in Europe.
Europe favours the jetprop as jet fuel is cheaper here vs avgas.
And (rare to reach) TBO of piston vs (realistic and longer) TBO of turbine.
Having owned 2 piston and 1 turbine PA46 I would not spend a single dollar on any kind of piston STC. The turbine is just so much better and the cost of a pre owned piston plane plus such an engine STC puts you right at the bottom end of the turbine market so I assume the market for such an STC would not exist.
the price difference of retrofitting that engine vs going to the turbine conversion (Jetprop) would not be large enough to generate sufficient demand
In that case nobody would bother, because the Jetprop outclasses the piston version totally and completely in every department, as well as totally outclassing every other SEP.
