And to be be clear I think Meridian and Jetprop are both great aircraft. They have some material systems differences but both have their advantages in certain scenarios.
All I can say is I really enjoy flying behind a turbine (I have now done 105 hours in it after 150 in the Mirage). They are simple, safe, reliable and you get very little vibration compared with a piston. Operating costs are not that different but overhaul (when you get there) is clearly far more expensive. Yearly maintenance seems lower on the turbine.
But if maximum range is your need, a piston running LOP is hard to beat. That doesn't mean that a piston will have the shortest trip time however.
Jason: I agree that the Meridian/Jetprops are great aircraft. I am getting my type rating for it at the moment. Strange thing is that for the TBM700/850 you only need a classrating (valid for 2 years) and for the JetProp (PA46) you need a type rating, which is only valid for one year.
I am not too worried about flying overweight as long as the insurance won't drop out when involved in an accident. I still imagine that the first thing that will happen when you e.g. depart from a grassstrip that is rather short but OK and would end up in the ditch is that they will investigate the W&B.
Another thing is the following. I just had a great trip where I flew most of it IFR but also took advantage of some grassstrips. I suggested the other night to a friend that owns a Meridian to meet at Nuits-St.-Georges which has a grass strip of over 800 meter. He refused to fly there because, as he said, the prop of the Meridian is too close to the ground, so it is too much risk to fly there.
Any ideas on this?
These 1999 kg STC's are almost always a "license to overweight" flying. I remember them from the Senecas I used to fly. Even as school planes with usually only 2 people and lots of fuel on board, we were overweight almost all the time, though within the certified limit of the plane with a large margin.
I wonder why these STC's are actually legal. They clearly do only one thing: To avoid taxes, something Europeans get pretty shirty about anyhow. On top of this, it is a well known fact that most GA planes are short on payload to start with, throwing away up to 300 kg of payload to save taxes somehow doesn't make too much sense.
From what I read here, Jetprops as well as the normal Malibus are certified for their max tow's for a reason: To provide proper payload and range to the customer for these expensive planes. To throw away part of this payload to save Eurocontrol taxes seems therefore just a paper exercise with the hope that no ramp check will ever uncover the fraud taking place here when the planes are flown at certified MTOW anyhow.
Instead, it would probably be more reasonable to try to get Eurocontrol to rise the tax free boundary for light planes from the 2000 kg to something where private owner planes are exempt with. Of course, the opposite is probably going to happen with Eurocontrol and it's agencies trying furiously to ban low speed IFR planes out of their airspace so that nothing stands in the way of airliners. So maybe this 1999 kg paper will become useless anyway in the next several years when Eurocontrol charges will be extended to include every IFR traffic regardless of weight.
I'm looking at purchasing a Piper Jetprop to be based in UK or South France. Would prefer to form a group of 4 to 6 to share. New to this side of aviation having spent many years in commercial aviation. Will need some questions answered. Can anyone offer any advice please?
Casm, sure, shoot away. However - while there are a few PA46ers on this forum, and many (me included) would be more than happy to answer your questions, the best ressource by far is MMOPA - in case you haven't already joined. (You're not based in Nimes by any chance? Heard Piper are looking to locate a maintenance center there).
Aeroplus, the Meridian is now approved for unimproved strips - needed to sell in Australia. They have modified the strut heights to raise the propeller. Personally I don't think they are ideal for it. I think they will work on a nice flat one but the engine mounts are not great on a bumpy one given the strut angles etc.
I just don't like cleaning them after grass.
Thanks Jason. How big a change to you think that the prop will strike the grass? If it is just cleaning ...
I think if you are careful, it will be fine. The strut change makes a big difference.
Strange thing is that for the TBM700/850 you only need a classrating (valid for 2 years) and for the JetProp (PA46) you need a type rating, which is only valid for one year.
Why the surprise?
TBM = Made in France PA46 = Made in USA
Who runs EASA?
Also don't forget that the PA46 is much older and the European certification is piggybacked onto the FAA certification.
The TBM was built later and certified in Europe first. At this time, a novel approach to rating was taken. I don't think that a conspiracy is the most likely reason.
How would your conspiracy theory apply to the fact that you can use the TBM/PA46 on an AOC in the US but you have to buy a twin (= non European product) to do the same in Europe?
