Re-Make The Interior For Any Mission

By John Ylinen

During a news briefing at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh Tuesday, Daher-Socata announced FAA certification of the new seating and cabin configuration on its latest fast turboprop aircraft version, the TBM 850 Elite. The Model Year 2012 TBM 850 Elite offers a unique capability in tailoring the passenger cabin to meet operators’ needs. Its middle seats can be oriented in a forward-facing position, while the rear seats are removable. In approximately 30 minutes, the TBM 850 can be reconfigured in a four-seat cabin, increasing the luggage volume capacity by three and doubling the maximum luggage weight. A Pilot Operating Handbook Change later in the year will allow removal of any or all of the seats in the passenger cabin.

“AirVenture is the world’s largest aviation gathering, which certainly is the best place to make our TBM 850 certification announcement, which highlights the dynamism of our Airplane Division,” commented Stephane Mayer, President and CEO of Daher-Socata. “This certification together with other 2012 improvements is a good illustration of the DAHER group’s commitment to innovation in serving its customers with the best in class, and state-of-the-art technology available.”  Customer delivery of Daher-Socata’s initial TBM 850 Elite equipped with the new seats will start immediately, and this cabin enhancement is being applied to all previously-delivered Model Year 2012 TBM 850s.

“This certification is the reward of many months of hard work for our engineering and airworthiness teams. It was a good preparation for our future challenges.” explained Nicolas Chabbert, Senior Vice President of the Daher-Socata Airplane Division. “The additional good news for the 17 customers of the TBM 850 Model Year 2012 already delivered: they will soon receive a pair of new seats to upgrade their plane to the Elite standard – a unique feature that will allow the use of cargo space as needed to our very fast turboprop aircraft’s unique cost/performance ratio.”

In addition to the Elite configuration certification announced at EAA AirVenture, Daher-Socata also announced the introduction of the new carbon fiber edging for the TBM 850, along with the Garmin GSR 56 Iridium satellite transceiver – providing worldwide access to quality on-demand weather information and text/voice communications.

Moreover, in partnership with Pratt & Whitney Canada, Daher-Socata is offering a seven-year extended warranty for the TBM 850’s PT6A-66D turboprop engine to new customers, valid until the end of October. This offer comes with the TBM Exclusive Maintenance Program, which covers scheduled maintenance costs for the original retail customer through the aircraft’s fifth annual inspection, or up to 1,000 total flight hours – whichever comes first. Cost of the TBM 850 Elite will be $3.4 Million and $3.5 Million with pilot door.

The company also indicated that they were in the analysis and business case phase of looking at what other aircraft they should bring to market. They have been studying twin engine concepts. No announcements were made and they indicated it would probably be 18 months before any decisions were made.

FMI: www.tbm850.com