What part of that mission will the TBM not do? The grass field? How high is the mountain strip?

4400 ft elevation. It could do that I think. I’ve never seen a tbm on a grass strip

Well, nobody asked, but I love looking up scenarios such as this.

On a 30*, no wind, standard pressure day with (4) 170# people on board and NBAA reserves to depart from the 4400' mountain strip the following runway length is required (50' clearance):


Meridian - 3,600'

M600 - 3,400'

TBM 850 - 3,100'

SF50 - 5,500'

Mustang - 5,250'

PC12 - 2,350'


These are the airplanes I'm intereted in and have POH's for. I'd love to know how the MU-2 does, or any other airplanes should anyone wish to provide.

Mu-2 used 1500ft with 4 adults, 1 baby and 220 gallons.

Michael what were your insurance requirements to fly solo? It seems like you just completed the sims and now you’re flying trips with the family - Is it really that straight forward? Pretty impressive.

I picked up the Citation today and flew back to Texas from Florida. I met my Dad in Jacksonville so he could fly back with me. It was a neat experience to take him with me and one I won’t ever forget. The plane performed well although there are several minor things to get ironed out. Fuel burn is obnoxious at FL280 but I’ll have to live with it until July 9th when it goes in for avionics. The ADSB upgrade will allow me to go to RVSM altitudes and drop the fuel burn to 800lbs or so. I saw 340-350 knots burning 1150lbs per hour. at FL280. Very quiet and comfortable and easy to fly. Looking forward to tweaking this bird and getting all I can from her.

That’s really good!

That's unusually fast, perhaps a bit of overconfidence.

There's a lot you don't know yet. Try not to get too much of an education at any given moment.

The MU2 is not hard to fly, but it is very unforgiving of inattention and sloppiness. Everything happens fast, so make sure you fly the plane and not that the plane flies you.

Mike C.

There is no grass strip I would fly a TBM into unless it was an emergency. Wheels too small and high pressure. There are some TBM owners who do but best I can tell the strip while grass is dry and extremely firm, like granite.

Strictly from a POH standpoint there should be no problem. I’ve had a main off the taxiway once and helped another owner with the same and prefer not to go there again. Sinks like a rock with fuel on board.

That pic with your dad is awesome. Being able to share that experience with him is probably about as good as airplane ownership gets.

That fuel burn though! You sure there wasn’t a hole in the tank?

That pic with your dad is awesome. Being able to share that experience with him is probably about as good as airplane ownership gets.

That fuel burn though! You sure there wasn’t a hole in the tank?

Tire pressure is your best indication of turf runway compatibility. In rough terms, the tire pressure will be your max contact pressure on the ground.

For the MU2, that's ~55 PSI for the nose tires and ~65 PSI for the mains. The low pressure comes from large wheels. You can't land on a truly soft field, but it does well generally. A TBM is about double those numbers (130 PSI for the mans?) which means it really isn't suitable for turf.

Mike C.

Mike has it;
Mains 135
Nose 95

Nada grass

The other aspect about grass is prop clearance. The MU2 has ample prop ground clearance. To hit a prop, you'd have to land gear up, and even that won't do it on the long body MU2s.

The SETP have much less ground clearance, made worse by the fact the prop is quite far ahead of the nose gear which makes the effective prop clearance less when considering uneven ground. A dip of the nose and a ridge on the mains can put the prop into the ground in some cases. This afflicts the PC-12 despite it having similar tire pressures as the MU2.

Also, since brakes are less effective, you will be using beta to slow down on grass. The low prop clearance of the singles will tend to kick up dirt and debris that gets sucked into the engine. On the MU2, the high engine position pretty much eliminates that.

Mike C.

Something to keep in mind when looking at the Mustang and SF50 is that the numbers you are referencing may be the equivalent of a 'balanced field (since they aren't Part 25, they don't call them that), which might be either stopping on the runway at v1, or climbing to 35 feet with a loss of an engine at v1 while still being over the runway. I think the turboprop aircraft simply deal with clearance over a 50 foot obstacle - although I have not reviewed their POHs, so I am not sure.