Tarbes, France – DAHER-SOCATA has delivered its 700th series production TBM turboprop aircraft.
The milestone airplane, a TBM 900, was provided to a private customer in Illinois, through a sale organized by Muncie Aviation, the authorized TBM distributor based at Muncie Municipal Airport in Indiana.
“This 700th TBM delivery demonstrates the full acceptance of the single-engine turboprop concept, which is the flagship of DAHER’s aerospace activities,” stated Stéphane Mayer, President and CEO of DAHER-SOCATA. “We are now setting our sights on the next milestones.”
DAHER-SOCATA’s TBM 700 version was the first series-production pressurized single-engine aircraft to be certified, and after several evolutions, the 300th TBM of this type came off the assembly line in June 2004. A total of 324 TBM 700s – all powered by a 700-shp engine – were built and delivered worldwide.
The program gained additional momentum with DAHER-SOCATA’s 2005 launch of the TBM 850, equipped with an 850-hp engine. A glass cockpit TBM 850 incorporating Garmin G1000 avionics was introduced in 2008. Deliveries of the TBM 850 totaled 338 through the end of 2013, and included the 500th TBM-series aircraft in 2009 and 600th in 2011.
DAHER-SOCATA unveiled its latest version, the TBM 900, in March 2014, logging 50 initial sales – of which 35 already have been delivered.
Retaining the TBM 850’s airframe, engine and avionics, the TBM 900 includes the addition of winglets, Hartzell’s new five-blade composite propeller, a complete nose-to-firewall redesign for improved engine airflow circulation and an improved human-machine interface in the cockpit and a completely revamped electrical system.
This latest TBM version incorporates a single-control throttle, associated with a new torque limiter to enable the use of 850 hp engine power at takeoff. By applying the available 850 shp. engine power from takeoff, the aircraft’s ground roll is reduced – even in hot-and-high conditions – while its improved climb rate enables the 31,000-foot ceiling to be reached in 18 minutes, 45 seconds, according to company officials