The Thursday evening public rollout of the new TBM 850 was expected to be a nice event... tucked away on the well-appointed and GA-friendly 'SouthEast Ramp' facility of Florida's Sanford (SRF) Airport in a beautifully decorated GA hangar with several hundred invited guests.

But like the airplane itself, the TBM 850 Rollout was a decidedly high-energy affair.

The Rollout was both lavish and classy. In addition to fly-bys of the TBM 850, a number of factory presentations preceded the actual introduction ceremony with descriptions of the decision process that led to the R&D go-ahead, and the surprisingly short test and certification period that started in 2004, and finished just last month with the issuance of the US TC. Stephane Mayer, Chairman and CEO of EADS Socata gave a detailed run-down of the TBM 850's attributes and the reasons for the current model upgrade -- while seeming to promise that there were more TBM models in the offing.

As informative as these discussions were, the night was meant to be entertaining... and it was. For the actual public rollout of the 850, the EADS Socata folks offered a little Vegas style entertainment complete with an extensive dance review and some beautiful showgirls who seemed genuinely amused to be in the company of several hundred airplane nuts. It was well-choreographed and immensely entertaining... especially as a number of audience members were pulled from the boundaries of the show floor and enticed into some of the dance numbers. EADS' Nic Chabbert (pictured below) upheld the company honor by maneuvering himself fairly well in the presence of very tempting company. These EADS folks know how to party...

The dancers also also participated in a classy unveiling that had it all... lights, smoke, music and special effects -- featuring a brand-new TBM 850 on a rotating pedestal that showed just how much effort was put into showing off the newest member of the clan to an audience (mostly TBM owners) who could appreciate it most. At the conclusion of these festivities, two TBM 850 owners were presented with keys to their new airplanes (pictured below). All in all... t'was a great evening.

And so, the launch of the TBM 850 seems off to a good start. Orders are tallying up faster than EADS Socata originally planned, and production increases already on the books for 2006 seem to be just what the flight surgeon ordered.

As previously reported, EADS Socata newest TBM member – the six-seat TBM 850 pressurized single-engined turboprop was announced several months ago and received the US TC at the end of January. The TBM 850 builds on the success of the TBM 700 business aircraft and offers owners and pilots a maximum cruise speed of 320 KTAS at FL260 in ISA conditions. EADS Socata officials repeatedly emphasize that this will give TBM 850 operators the advantage of the cruising speeds typical of light jets, with the economical direct operating costs of a single-engine turboprop.

The TBM 850 is a significant leap forward over the already boastful properties of the TBM 700 series... thanks in large part, to the charms of Pratt & Whitney's exhaustively engineered PT6A-66D. The PT6A-66D delivers 1,825 eshp flat-rated to 850 shp for the TBM 850. Its single-crystal compressor turbine blades enable higher operating temperatures and, coupled with a new first-stage compressor design, gives the TBM 850 its enhanced high-altitude performance.

Expecting to see the first new TBM 850 in all its glory, we were impressed by the sight of it AND two more new 850s, already in the process of being used to adapt their new owners (one of whom was upgrading himself from a Cirrus SR22) to the operation and performance of this airframe. One new owner actually flew the aircraft in from Tarbes, France, (with a factory pilot) and had conducted over 20 hours of training since getting to the states, for a grand total of 40 hours TT in the airframe... making him the high-time, non-factory, TBM 850 driver in North America... a title that pleased him to no end.

The base price of the TBM 850 is set at $2,576,930. A version with typical customer options and equipped for RVSM (Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum) operation will list at $2,799,850.

ANN is expecting the opportunity to flight test the TBM 850 shortly, and as soon as we return from the annual Heli-Expo, we're looking forward to seeing what all the fuss is about. Unfortunately, our test flight will be sans showgirls. We'll keep you updated.

FMI: www.socata.eads.net, www.southeastramp.com