Daher's TBM 900 is making its Singapore debut just under two years after the French airframer launched the latest variant of its "very fast turboprop". The single-engine aircraft belongs to Singapore owner-operator John Giddens, who upgraded from an older TBM 850 in 2014.
It comes as Daher announces at the show its "Model Year 2016" version, which incorporates features to enhance flight envelope protection, improve warning identification and facilitate flight planning, according to the Tarbes-based company.
The enhancements were introduced with Garmin's new software release for the G1000 V15 avionics suite – which forms the basis of the TBM 900’s all-glass cockpit.
“With the Model Year 2016 TBM 900, we are offering our customers a concentration of innovation, technology and safety improvements that can be compared to bringing an ‘e-copilot’ into the cockpit to reduce the pilot’s workload,” says Nicolas Chabbert, senior vice president of Daher’s airplane business unit. “Those innovations reflect our policy of constant improvement, which offers TBM customers the latest technology available for the optimised use of their aircraft.”
The features include flight envelope monitoring through electronic stability and protection (ESP) and the under-speed protection (USP) systems, both of which have been added to the autopilot. These electronic monitoring and stability augmentation systems assist the pilot in maintaining the aircraft in a stable flight condition when flight parameters are exceeded. There are also new aural alerts for stall, overspeed, landing gear extension and oxygen mask use.
Around two thirds of the TBMs in service in Asia Pacific are owner-flown, with the rest operated by flight departments, says Mark James Diaz, international TBM sales director for Daher's airplane business unit.
"It really is an aircraft for people who like to travel," says Diaz. The aircraft has a range of 1,730nm at 250kt, but at its top speed of 330kt this falls to around 1,100nm.
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Source: Flight Daily News
