Milestone Airplane Is A TBM 930

Daher has announced the completion of its 800th TBM very fast turboprop business aircraft, which has rolled out from the company’s final assembly line at France’s Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrenees Airport.

This milestone aircraft is a TBM 930 – the latest addition to the TBM family of very fast turboprop aircraft, which is in production along with the TBM 900 version.

"The 800th TBM represents another important achievement and highlights the success of our very fast turboprop aircraft family, whose first model – the TBM 700 – entered into production 25 years ago,” said Nicolas Chabbert, Senior Vice President of the Daher Airplane Business Unit. “We remain confident in the TBM family’s future, backed by continuous developments that brought us to the latest TBM 930 and TBM 900 versions today, creating a strong foundation for the years to come.”

For the 800th TBM rollout, Daher employees involved in the TBM program gathered around the aircraft for a photo before the TBM 930’s departure to the United States – where it will be received by Elliott Aviation in Des Moines, Iowa, which is Daher’s authorized TBM distributor for North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota and Iowa.

"We owe this success to the commitment of our teams to meet the expectations and the passion of our customers for this unique aircraft," Chabbert added. “Year after year, our customers and operators appreciate the TBM’s speed, comfort, operating efficiency and excellent handling characteristics.”

The TBM 700 was the first civilian pressurized single turboprop aircraft to be certified, entering full production in 1991. Strong growth in sales was experienced beginning from 2006 with availability of the TBM 850, powered by an 850-horsepower Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 engine that replaced the original 700-horsepower PT6A version utilized on TBM 700s.

Enhancements of the TBM’s avionics resulted in the all-glass integrated Garmin G1000 avionics suite’s introduction on the TBM 850, continuing the aircraft’s market attractiveness.

As the latest TBM family members, Daher’s TBM 900 and TBM 930 already have logged more than 150 orders since their launch in 2014, with 132 delivered as of September 15, 2016.

In developing the TBM 900, Daher integrated further improvements for its very fast turboprop aircraft family that included aerodynamic optimization through the addition of winglets, a vertical tailfin strake and new tail cone; the use of a five-blade composite propeller and redesigned spinner; enhanced human-machine interface features, and a restyled cockpit panel for increased visibility and interaction with secondary system controls.

The TBM 900 utilizes Garmin’s G1000 avionics system – incorporating a pair of 10-inch screens and a multifunction display sized at 15 inches, along with a physical keyboard for navigation and communication functions.

(Image provided with Daher news release)

FMI: www.daher.com