Just reached that mark with my TB20GT Over 2400hrs airborne time.
It wasn’t without pain, in the first year or two. In 2008 I wrote up these notes and updated them a bit since.
The good: it turned out to be a superb plane, which was bought without a test flight! Nothing else met my spec, and Cirrus and Diamond dealers were too arrogant to talk about avionics (details in the article). A selection of trips are here. The TB20 is practically impossible to crash, so long as you stay away and keep the speed within reasonable bounds; it has no handling problems or weird stuff. I happily stall it at ~FL200 when trying to reach the ceiling It has a great range (~1300nm to empty tanks) which makes even Greece readily doable; unsurpassed by almost anything else in GA. It is practically impossible to load outside the envelope without exceeding the MTOW. It has a ceiling of FL200 in ISA conditions which makes crossing the Alps easy; a necessity if you want to get the very best out of European flying. The plane proved to be extremely reliable, with really negligible downtime. I went N-reg in 2005 and since about 2008 I have been doing maintenance with a friend A&P/IA, which got around all the Part M related airport-political problems. It also enabled installation of important but off-mainstream mods.
The bad: the warranty bill was around 100k, on duff avionics. I think Socata built the plane partly with stuff returned with intermittent defects, which got bench tested, found serviceable (unsurprisingly – disregarding such customer reports is SOP in the industry because “who will end up holding the baby?”) and put back on the shelf. It was done under warranty, but it was a year before I had confidence to do longer trips. But this is a “Socata cultural” problem really.
I am still flying largely with the original (late-1990s) centre stack: KLN94 + KMD550 + KX radios. For European IFR, only LPV is missing, but has not been much of an issue because, out of the UK, most airports with Immigration and Customs have an ILS, or a nearby alternate has. I would like to install IFD540+IFD550 but can’t face the downtime and the potential installer trouble
Congratulations on 20 years successful operation of this beauty!
Wow that is an impressive donkey, 120h/year is a good level of consistency
Congrats Peter!
And yes, those TBs are good machines for sure. The build quality and engineering is amazing, but what else to expect from an airliner manufacturer?
On the other hand, I used to rent one from the airline flying club I was working for at the time, but wasn’t too impressed… didn’t fit the kind of flying I wanted and still do. One reason might have been that it was missing the GT acronym
Wishing you many more safe and fun filled hours for the next 20 years
Dan wrote:
And yes, those TBs are good machines for sure. The build quality and engineering is amazing, but what else to expect from an airliner manufacturer?
Actually Socata was starting from the Morane-Saulnier Brand that was a Pionner of aviation starting before WW1, with great plane such as the Rally, the Paris, but no airliners.
Socata engineering is mostly good. The TB20 is a conventional and “obvious” metal construction, the engine is American and the avionics are American The key to keeping long term costs down is to look after the airframe, which means greasing (mostly Grease #7, not WD40 )
Socata make some big plane parts but this is a recent activity, after the TB range was dropped c. 2001. They make the TBM of course, which is built like a TB20 but a bit more solid as one would expect.
Congratulations. I do love reading your reports and trips, partly to blame for me getting my IR ;)
Are any more big ones planned this year?
Congratulations Peter,
A long term relationship with an aircraft is a special thing that not many pilots get to experience let alone enjoy.
Here’s to many more years adventures in your TB20.
Cheers. - E
Thank you all
This year, some trips around Croatia, then Germany, France, then various short trips into France (would like to organise a La Rochelle meet-up but there is zero interest in anything for May as most of the old-timers who used to go places have gone), plus whatever comes up. In September will try a Sardinia meet-up, otherwise just put together a small group. My son flies the TB20 a lot more often than I do, so the 2022 airframe time will be huge
from Facebook…
Excerpt:
It combines the proven airframe of the Trinidad with the latest aviation technology, driven by Socata’s major role as an aerostructure supplier on the Airbus A330/A340. For example, the upper fuselage panels are made of a carbon-fiber/honeycomb sandwich, a light, extremely robust material that can be used to make complex forms.
I think to recall that the spars were also milled in the big house… not sure on that one though.