Company Will Reflect On Success At AirVenture 2008

EADS Socata is celebrating the 20th anniversary this month of the first flight of its TBM 700, a fast turboprop single the company notes opened a new era in business aviation.

On July 14, 1988, Chief Test Pilot Bernard Dorance and Flight Test Engineer Jean Piatek (shown at center) performed the TBM 700's maiden takeoff, initiating a one hour, 15 minute evaluation flight. The TBM 700 represented an entirely new design at the time, combining high speed and performance with the efficiency of a turboprop engine.

The prototype plane was very similar externally to EADS Socata's follow-on TBM 850, which is continuing the aircraft's international success. The TBM 700 prototype was initially powered by a 700-shp (522 kW) Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-40 turboprop with a single exhaust stack, replaced later by the more efficient PT6A-64 version with a stack on each side of the fuselage.

"At 20, a human being is at the flower of his prime; at 20, the TBM aircraft family is demonstrating the strength of its maturity while enjoying the vigor of youth," waxed Jean-Michel Léonard, EADS Socata's Chairman and CEO. "The TBM's creators were visionaries who foresaw the promise of launching the first pressurized turboprop-powered aircraft – which has been largely responsible for taking EADS Socata to its current position in the business aviation industry."

The TBM was developed to replace medium twin-engine piston aircraft that were the backbone of business aviation, but which were considered slow and fuel-hungry, while jets were beyond reach of the majority of customers. With the TBM 700, a new opportunity opened up for a fast, capable and efficient aircraft with a 6-7-seat capacity and a sturdy low-wing airframe produced in aluminum and steel.

Official roll-out of the TBM 700 occurred on June 13, 1988 in the presence of former astronaut Frank Borman and Muriel Hermine, four times European champion in synchronized swimming. Two years later, the Federal Aviation Agency awarded a type certificate on August 28, 1990 to the first civilian pressurized turboprop, and the keys of TBM 700 serial no. 1 were handed over to its owner at the 1990 National Business Aviation Association convention in New Orleans, LA.

"In 2008, we will celebrate this 20th anniversary milestone at the EAA AirVenture show Oshkosh, Wisconsin beginning on July 28, taking the opportunity with our customers and the entire TBM pilot community to look back at what has been accomplished -- and to reflect on what lies ahead," said Nicolas Chabbert, President of EADS Socata North America. "In almost a century of aviation, EADS Socata has overcome many challenges, and the company has truly made its mark in aviation history."

FMI: www.socata.eads.com