Someone who wants to spend less money operating their airplane and doing less training to pilot it, plus wants to operate from shorter or wet, icy, snowy runways.

Mike C.

Says the guy with an MU2!! Pots and kettles black …

Someone who wants to spend less money operating their airplane and doing less training to pilot it, plus wants to operate from shorter or wet, icy, snowy runways.

Mike C.

Even if you paint it red, a TBM just does not have the funny tail.
Further, for the next five or so years, the SF50 has a great warranty and Cirrus is known for following through on it. While that TBM A or B has a lot of pending new costs and is designed for what is likely a much higher cycle/hour time per year; not a Part 91 plane for the casual pilot/owner.

Tim

Assuming things will work like the SR22, I think my biggest problem with stretching to buy an SF50 would be the depreciation when the SF50G2 hits. That would be a bitter pill to swallow, I think.

Great quote. I just think Luc should buy a new M600 and give it to me when done.

Tim

I think it is up to Piper and their dealers to differentiate the products but some things that come to mind, if I were a M500 salesman.

1. The Fatal record for the GX000 is perfect, 0 fatals, since that plane started production with the GX000 suite in 2009. Can't beat perfect... Knock on wood, knock on wood.....
2. The M500 uses 30% less fuel on long trips, and about 50% less fuel on short trips
3. The airframe is thoroughly vetted and tested, there are no surprises and any problem you come up with, there will be an expert that knows how to fix it.
4. You can seat 6 adults comfortably, on shorter flights of course, due to fuel constraints with six adults, the SF50 can only seat five.
5. You can take off and land on almost any paved runway in the US, the SF50 on a hot day, needs over 10,000 feet to clear a 50 foot obstacle at Leadville, Leadville is 6400 feet long
6. Wet contaminated, icy or snowy fields are no problem in the M500, with Beta or if you need reverse, which can stop the plane in under 1000 feet.
7. If you are flying at night in IMC and icing, and you lose your generator, your backup alternator has enough power to overfly the bad weather to destination. The Cirrus has to load shed and exit night, IFR icing conditions because the backup alternator can't run the load.
8. The M500 has 3 redundant glass panels with reversionary capability, making loss of 1 panel an inconvenience, 2 panels abnormal, 3 panels concerning, but then you still have an Aspen 1000 on its own separate power supply. In the SF50 lose one panel, concerning, 2 panels, is an emergency, as you are now looking down and to the right at a GTN pretending to be a backup AI in the worst possible position to induce vertigo.
9. There is no risk of bird ingestion in a M500. What part of the bird survives the composite high speed 5-blade bird blender, will lodge in one or the other, 2 large engine intakes. If for some crazy reason both intakes were blocked the PT6 can pull air backwards through the IS vents and keep running. Turkey vulture in the William's jet engine on take off.... Phooph uncomfortable silence.
10. Club seating with a pull out table, makes family interaction, game playing, homework completing, room for the family dog, much more convenient than mini-van seating.
11. Gas, dirt and Gravel landings are permitted in the M500.
12. Full fuel useful load of a loaded M500 is 550 lbs. Full fuel useful load of an SF50 is 385 lbs.
13. You can actually buy and fly an M500 in the near future.
14. Chicks dig the sound of Beta...

Off the top of my head.

Maybe I should sell M500's

Just to be fair, I was replying specifically to Yuri's question. I could also put a very positive spin on the SF50, it is a sharp plane. But Cirrus is already doing a great job selling it.

I think they are different enough, that if someone is thinking do I get an SF50 or an M500, they really need to re-define their mission. Kind of like I was thinking of an Eclipse versus a PC12....

I understand the difference between the M500 and the SF50. I'd take the SF50. You're comparing the new, top of the line everything to an old, base model.

Comparing an Eclipse to a PC12...... totally different comparison. Opposite sizes, opposite range and payload, opposite price points. Opposites on service and support. Eclipse v. PC12 is 2 planes that couldn't be more opposite.

I understand the difference between the M500 and the SF50. I'd take the SF50. You're comparing the new, top of the line everything to an old, base model.

Comparing an Eclipse to a PC12...... totally different comparison. Opposite sizes, opposite range and payload, opposite price points. Opposites on service and support. Eclipse v. PC12 is 2 planes that couldn't be more opposite.

Has anybody seen whether a SF50 can operate off of an unpaved strip? The location of the engine high on the fuselage makes FOD ingestion unlikely. My TBM friends say that they would never take a TBM into a unpaved strip because of low prop clearance.

Chuck the M500 cockpit ain't all that, lighted switches and a G1000... yawn. Needs big windows and a spacious feeling. That whole tube needs to be 2 inches bigger. The front windows are narrow and the cockpit feels cramped. I'm 6'4 and my head rides right up against the roof. I feel like I have more room in an Archer than the Meridian. Getting in and out is a pain too. The SF50 wins in cabin interior argument hands down.

Look at these huge windows.

Cirrus has not released the AFM so it isn't clear what the limitations are with regards to runway.

I think the AFM would be very interesting to read, lots of curious bits in there I predict.

Mike C.

Big windows are awesome for selling planes and for those low and slow VFR types. From 28,000 feet over a hazy earth, or undercast, or in a cloud nothing to see anyway. That unfiltered sun, though, is some kind of brutal at 28,000 feet with no atmosphere filtering the intensity. I fly a lot of hard core IFR/IMC, the windows are plenty big, and on those days when the sun is blasting me from above below and beside, if I could make them a little smaller I would. My passengers almost always bring the shades down as soon as they can passing 10,000 feet. Hey kids, we are over the Grand Canyon... Cool Dad, as they don't even look up from their iPads.

The windows on the PA46 are plenty big. Certainly big enough to tell me if I have the runway at mins.

Chuck loves his Meridian as much as Marc loves his TBM.

The Meridian cabin is a non-starter for me also.