Common trips 500 to 700 miles
Two people. Half are business trips.
Like getting over the weather
Common IFR trips.
Not fond of oxygen
Little mountain flying. Mostly eastern USA
Currently own TBM 850 (am spoiled)
Time to down size. Improve economics. Costs about $120k per year to fly TBM

I moved up to a 700C2 from a TNG36. It would be tough to go back....especially considering our current mission. I loved the G36. TN was a game changer. I miss the garmin 700 autopilot in the G36.

Once you've experience turbine, going back to piston would be torture.

Mike C.

P210 or be58

For the stated budget, I think I would be looking at an MU-2. If I wanted to spend half of that, I would be looking at an Aerostar. Both of these choices suppose that you want to retain high altitude capability with pressurization.

After what you have been flying I think a Malibu would have you looking for a buggy whip and a set of spurs.

Can one run an MU-2 cheaper than a TM850? That doesn't seem to pencil out.

The per mile cost would probably be worse but you would only have about 20% of the money invested. That should translate into lower insurance and taxes as well.

I would guess that it would cost about $2 per NM to run something like the really nice $350K F model that was advertised here about a year ago.

Here's a link to someone who spend some time trying to get a good handle on cost of MU-2 operation in regards to altitude and trip length.
http://turbineair.com/wp-content/upload ... ration.pdf

Probably, but not by a lot.

Part of this is that you will spend more for a TBM than an MU2, so if you figure what the cost of capital is in some way, the MU2 starts with a lead. This also factors in insurance costs based on hull value.

The MU2 will burn a bit more fuel per mile, and engine reserve is probably a bit less than the TBM (the big block PT6 are expensive for HSI and OH).

Going TBM to MU2 to save money doesn't make a lot of sense in the end.

An Aerostar is not half the cost of a TBM, at least not per mile or mission. The Aerostar costs much more per mile in fuel. The gap between Jet-A and 100LL has widened a lot in the last few years.

Aerostar: 210 KTAS, 40 GPH, $5.30/gallon is $1.01/nm.

TBM: 300 KTAS, 55 GPH, $3.50/gallon is $0.64/nm.

My four most recent fuel prices to substantiate the low cost of Jet-A:

KBFF: $2.92
KBFI: $3.00
KLGB: $3.22
KAPA: $2.42

I bet the maintenance on an Aerostar is not any cheaper than a TBM, either.

Mike C.

I have talked to a lot of MU-2 owners and attended 2 PROP seminars. The consensus I have gathered is it cost about $1,000 an hour to fly an MU-2, and most owners spend more than that because they like to make upgrades. Mike seems to be the anomaly at something under $900. I believe you can overhaul 2 MU-2 engines for less than the one in the TBM850, and the TBO of the MU-2 engines can be twice as long as the TBM.

Vince

True for:

Later long body models with glass windshields, 4 blade props, and serviced at the factory service center.

Not true for:

Earlier short body models, plastic windshields, with 3 blade props, owner involved maintenance, with the right shops.


My average hourly cost is about $750 over the last 6 years. It has been going down in recent times with cheaper fuel.

A friend with an F model is about the same, so I'm not the only one.

If I flew more, my costs would go down as that amortizes hangar and insurance (which is included in my $750 number). I get about 100-150 hours/year typically.


Pretty close, about $230K for each of my TPE331-10AV, about $450K for the PT6-6x series. I did see invoices for a pair of PT6-6x on a Cheyenne that ran $550K each. Ouch. OH costs are hard to predict.

For me, with 1000 hour engines, I won't have to do anything to them for my entire ownership, so engine reserve is a market value thing, not an hourly operating thing.


PT6-6x is typically 3500 hours, mine are 5000 hours. There are various extension programs available to both, so this isn't a hard and fast rule.

Mike C.

Good info. I think Roger was looking to step down his annual costs by more than a few pennies per nm. (He gave an annual figure that he wants to substantially reduce, but didn't give an annual nm target he's looking to hit.)

I definitely subscribe to the "airplane's capital cost is real" line of thinking, but Roger also gave us a capital budget cap too. I think the combination of constraints pushes him back into pistons, and maybe even piston singles.

I'm paying close attention to the thread as I'd love to learn of the perfect turbine answer, with per-nm costs approaching an A36TN, that is somehow totally undiscovered by the aviation buyers such that it's under $750K.

Good used Meridian?

FWIW - For a low time private operator, depending on your location, taxes and insurance cost difference (which are largely based on hull value) make operating the MU2 a reasonable option.

Between my MU2 and a TBM 850, say, I save roughly $14,000 per year in property tax alone. At $4/gal and a fuel burn differential of 20 gals/hour (MU2 about 85 gal/hr, TBM about 65 gal/hr) that is 175 hours. I only operate something like 100 hours per year. So it also covers my annual recurrent training bill.

The capital cost issue is a dominating cost for those who don't operate very high hours.

But Mike,

What are you paying for Jet A at Tri State?

You paid $2.42 at KAPA in Denver?? Wow thats extremely low for a high profile business airport.