![]() Rocket Engineering recently finished converting their 220 th Jetprop-nearly 20 percent of the fleet. Spokane, Washington-based Rocket Engineering struck gold when Warren Wood, Darwin Conrad, and Jeannie Sadler began converting new Piper Malibus/Mirages to PT6s. The industry’s two piston-powered inflatable singles were among the first targets of major conversion efforts. Turboprops and jets must fly higher to realize their maximum performance potential, so the most logical candidates for conversion were models already designed for comfortable travel in the flight levels. A number of them recognized that there was big money in the sale of turbine singles and began investigating turbine conversions of existing piston super-singles. The comparative success of the foreign companies hasn’t gone unnoticed by the aircraft modifiers. Despite a current entry-level tab of just under $4 million, the Swiss company has delivered just under 900 of the super-size singles, proving, if nothing else, that price alone may not be much of a deterrent for the right airplane. In freighter configuration, the oversized cargo door opens up the aft left side of the fuselage and even allows loading with a fork lift. Blessed with a monster 1200-hp P&W engine out front and nearly 1800 pounds of payload behind its huge 11-seat cabin, the PC-12 was and remains the undisputed top of the class in weight, size, and price-if not performance. Pilatus joined the fray in 1995 with its King Kong PC-12. By the beginning of 2008, however, SOCATA had sold some 430 of its TBM-700 and upgraded TBM-850 propjets. The new airplane sold almost 100 units the first year, then trickled down to 15 units or less per year. The SOCATA entry offered copious room for six, strong climb, and cruise speeds just below the magic 300 knots. (Okay, the VERY first certified turbine single was the Cessna Caravan utiliplane, but many didn’t regard it as a corporate airplane in those days.) SOCATA of Tarbes, France, began marketing the TBM-700 in 1990 at $1.2 million, flying behind a 700-shaft horsepower (shp) Pratt & Whitney PT6. In fact, the first production turbine corporate single was to come from a surprising source. Sadly, none of them even came close to being certified. Mooney was even discreetly flying an Allison-powered 201. Lee Bailey tried to develop an Allison-powered version of the Aero Commander 200 but failed. The company eventually abandoned that project after pouring uncounted millions into its development.Ĭessna experimented with a PT6-powered P-Centurion in the ‘80s, as well, but the company folded that project when it shut down all small aircraft production in 1986. At one time, Beechcraft had big designs on a turbine-powered, pressurized Bonanza called the Lightning. Nonetheless, few have succeeded, including many of general aviation’s heaviest hitters. It’s not surprising that practically every company in the industry has tried the configuration at one time or another. Teaming the reliability of a jet engine with the thrust of a prop is, in many respects, an aeronautical engineer’s dream. ![]() On the surface, propjets seem to offer the best of everything-if at a price. For our range of ground power equipment and tugs please visit Plane The Meridian Piper’s Sole Turboprop Gets Down to Businessĭesigners have dreamed of fielding single-engine turboprops for years. View all recommended tool and avionics kits for the Piper PA-46-500TP Malibu Meridian aircraft below. We also offer a combination of start and continuous power in one unit for the Piper PA-46-500TP Malibu Meridian aircraft in our TC3000 range. This includes the popular RBI9400T mechanic hand trolley case complete with 161 BAHCO tools, the 709 tug, and the RBPS25 continuous power unit, which is ideal for diagnostic work, pre flight checks or for continuous powering of equipment during operations, without draining the onboard aircraft batteries, and the RB50A for starting the aircraft, helping to avoid hot starts. Red Box is pleased to offer a great range of ground power equipment for this aircraft, including tugs, ground power units, start power units, aviation tools, and more, which are perfectly suited to the requirements of the Piper PA-46-500TP Malibu Meridian aircraft. In order to facilitate for the new Pratt & Whitney PT6A-42A engine, the Meridian’s wings and tail surface were lengthened, while these also helped increase MTOW and cruise speed. Piper aspired to devise a turboprop variant of the original model, to keep up with the ever-advancing aviation market. One of the later additions to the line was the PA-46-500TP Malibu Meridian, introduced in 1997. ![]() ![]() The first model was announced in 1982, and was intended to be a direct comptetior of the Cessna P210 Centurion. The Piper PA-46 Malibu was a line of single-engined, pressurized, light aircrafts. ![]()
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