I can't get into a Meridien. It's my number one complaint about the airplane.

It will be mainstream until the next big thing or until Garmin goes the way of Bendix King or until display technology advances and no one makes replacement screens for it. Electronics have a functional life ... that ends one day. And there's no going back to get replacement chips that haven't been made for 8 years.

Round dials are, of course, still made. Ever seen an aircraft spruce catalog? The replacement market is still far larger than new market. Round dials are also - very importantly - supportable by anyone with a little ingenuity. You can make your own parts for round dials if required. Try making a new screen for an MX20.

I don't agree Charles. More planes have been delivered with the G1000 in the last 10 years than round dials. With so many older planes being sent to the scrap yard I'd bet in very short order round dial manufacturers will start going belly up. Electronics are too cheap to manufacture. Round dial planes already have digital upgrades available. G1000 planes will be upgradeable to the G2000 etc.

The longer a round dial airplane goes without being upgraded, the higher the chances it will go to the scrap yard in favor of a new plane or one that's been upgraded to digital.

The future of aviation is:
Socata
Pilatus
Embraer
Cirrus
Cessna

The name of the game is efficiency, automation and single pilot capability.

Oh....you forgot one....."Honda Jet"

I know what you mean, but that's not my case. I am a new buyer. Everything I own is new. But, I'm buying used this time. My gut isn't happy because everything is a compromise. I want something that will work for my current mission, and something that has a decent exit strategy if I choose to step up my mission. Until I get me toe wet, I won't know how much of a commitment I am wiling to make.

A G1000 Meridian is too early in the depreciation cycle (also too few on the market), and a round gauge TBM is too dated for me. I've studied it hard, I don't like compromises, and it's time to pull out my plan "B".

Regarding entry - I am 6'0 170. It didn't seem any harder to me than a twin Cessna that I sat in recently.

I don't know what a twin cessna is.

The C-421 and 414 have big roomy cabins. The rest of the twin Cessna's are pretty tight!

I'm 6'3" and 210lbs - I flat don't fit into the Meridian or Cessna 340 cockpits. The 421 and King Airs fit me fine though.

The 400 series Cessnas have a LOT more room up front than the PA46 line!

Robert

Seems like the older meridians hit the bottom and are bouncing back. I've been watching them over the past few years and their are a lot less of them on the market these days. A year ago, I saw a number of 2001's in the low 700's and I'd guess they were selling for within 10% of that #. Not sure what caused the uptick but my guess is the availability of the G600 install.

The Meridian is pretty tempting.

Advantages:
270kts on the close to the same fuel burn as the P baron at 205
Turbine simplicity and safety
5K higher operating altitude (the P isn't reasonable to operate at 25K in most situations)
Newer airplane
Better climb rate
Jet A
Serous cool factor
Cabin class

Disadvantages:
at least 700K more money
Tight cockpit (I'm 6'5")
Low UL
Short range
No nose baggage
Bigger hangar required
Piper quality
Meggit glass
Higher insurance costs

For me the other factors are debatable. Who knows what airplane will depreciate more? I tend to think the P baron has higher ongoing maintenance costs but the Meridian has more expensive one-time costs. Seems engine time on the one P&W is more expensive than the two pistons but the pistons have more stuff go wrong along the way. I'd guess training cost is about the same.

For me it comes down to this. I own the P outright, I own my home and I own my cars. My only debt is a rental home and I plan to get rid of it in the next year and have zero debt. I don't have the cash for a Meridian so I'd have to finance some of it. I can afford the payment but I don't know if its worth it. My big internal struggle is that a Turbine is on my bucket list. I spent many years flying other peoples turbines and every time I got into one, I'd tell myself I'd own my own someday.

John,

Congrats on being almost debt free.
Something to think about, we have started to see the point where more and more planes have "zero" value after sitting for just a few years. That is, the planes are not even worth scrap. I know of a few situations where the owner's estate had to pay a scrap yard to take the plane.
Then look at the market that this applies too. Piston planes, especially twin piston planes and old jets which do not pass stage 2 noise requirements.
For me, I think the shrinking pilot population and the increasing age of pilots are a major contribution why there is a decreasing demand for piston aircraft. With some pilots always wanting new aircraft, there is more and more of the fleet which not be supported and will end up in the junk yard.

As you look toward the future, implicit or not most of us want to recover something from the plane or pass the torch on to another generation.
Since you want a turbine, and so does everyone else; this market will not have the same level of collapse. Therefore, jumping to an entry level turbine that meets enough of the mission will give you a plane that allows for the exit to provide something; even if only physiological.

Tim

Thanks Tim,

I've been thinking about this in much the same way but I was worried that I was justifying rather than being objective. Now that you said it, I feel much more objective!

I know you are a spreadsheet guy so maybe you can help me with TCO (total cost of ownership) calc. Operating cost is pretty easy and frankly doesn't matter that much, the P is around 500/hr or 2.50/nm. I bet the Meridian is in the ballpark on cost per NM if I fly at least 200 hrs/yr but if its 20% more that's ok. The bigger challenge is quantifying the potential depreciation of the Baron vs the Meridian. The Baron likely will take bigger percentage hits over the coming years but the Meridian exposes a lot more money so even smaller hits can mean a lot more $'s. I figure I'd spend $1MM and finance 700K at 6%, this a 60k/yr pmt with about 20 going towards principal. So right off the bat, I have 40K/yr going towards interest or in other words "gone". But that is not even the real problem. The real problem is a 20% downturn in the market is a bigger hit than I want to sign up for. Am I being too cautious or am I just not a big enough boy to play in this ballfield?

My buddy bought a 2005 PC12 a couple years ago. Did all his training and a couple hundred hours and sold it for a $200K profit.

I feel buying high demand aircraft is much smarter than buying cheap, low demand aircraft.... Ever if it means spending more than you want to spend.

I'm not planning on losing money on my PC12.

If he'd invested that same amount (or a proportional amount representing the difference between the PA46/TBM and a PC-12) in housing or the stock market over that same time period, how'd he have done? (Housing or stocks are surely no worse than airplanes on a risk-adjustment basis.)

I completely agree that a high-demand aircraft will be quicker to sell (that's almost definitionally true), but it's not clear that an expensive, high-demand aircraft will be a better "investment" (or even "lose less") than a wildly less expensive, but lower-demand aircraft.

Everyone needs to stop comparing airplane money to stock market money or some other investment. You can't fly a stock portfolio. Flying is the greatest thing I've ever done and my airplane will be the last thing to go.

I'm simply talking about making smart airplane purchase vs. known killers. There are only a few airplanes I would consider buying. I can count them on one hand. Anything and everything else is a boat anchor and you will lose your butt.

I will clarify that statement is based on the type of flying I do which is mostly business 300+ hours a year.

The reason the Meridien tanks in value is because it costs way too much for what you get. It has no legit utility unless you fly alone a lot. If I flew alone a lot I would buy a used mustang for $1.5mm and never look back.