I heard someone say recently

"Enough is as good as a feast"

An interesting concept. I think the SF50's mission may be to be "enough" on all fronts. It excels at nothing, and on most objective measures kinda sucks. But it may be enough.

I'm still waiting to see the photoshopped TF50 with a couple smaller engines stacked one upon another.

It excels at being half the price of all other turbine airplanes.

It excels with automation

It excels with cost of ownership

It excels at being half the price of all other turbine airplanes.

It excels with automation

It excels with cost of ownership

There certainly are less systems to manage than there are in a Piper Meridian and those don't seem to fallout of the sky daily. Some humans are even capable of keeping a MU2 in the air, where there is more complexity in the NTS system along than the entire SF50 airframe. Now you're just grasping at straws. What can possibly go wrong in the SF50 than would could not go wrong in Piper Meridian.

It excels at being half the price of all other turbine airplanes.

It excels with automation

It excels with cost of ownership

...and will still be less than the other jets and will still be attractive to some buyers

By the time we find the answer to that question, a new TBM-960 will be 5mil.

This is key. There are a lot more people who could afford to buy other jets than would afford to own one. I'm waiting to see how they do on their goals in running cost.

I would probably have bought an SF50 if it came to market on time. Came real close to getting a deposit when I bought my Turbo Cirrus. I moved up and since have flown almost 2000 hours in the flight levels, what a great time. I still see people canceling missions, slogging down low in the turbulence and weather in their single engine pistons waiting for the holy grail of the next dream plane to come. Whether a single engine jet like the SF50, or the Epic or the Kestrel, or the Eclipse 700 which would be just perfect. Meanwhile there are plenty of real step up turbine aircraft available today ready to go. I know some deposit holders that are 5-10 years down the road... losing time they will never get back with that perishable medical.\

As Mike so gently points out, the SF50 has some serious limitations that will become apparent to many as they start enjoying the joy and reliability of turbine ownership. That comes from somebody that has spent time in the turbine world. Coming up the food chain, it all looks rosie. The SF50 will be a nice step up like the Meridian and many will stay there. A good portion, though, will get a taste of Jet A, and then want to move to a more capable turbine. People don't pay millions of dollars to have to shoot fuel stops in LIFR and mission legs increase more than most would think.

Just a real world... fake trip. Just picked up your beautiful SF50 in Duluth and want to go hiking in Sun Valley Idaho today with 3 of your FAA standard friends and light luggage.

With the moderate winds today and having to leave off 500 lbs of fuel due to your 3 FAA 180 lb standard friends and luggage you can't get there non-stop. you can barely make reserves with 2 stops. But you stop in KRAP for fuel. Sun Valley hopefully is good VMC, because you won't have alternate reserve fuel when you get there.

So in the SF50 leg 1, 1125 lbs of fuel, 2:05 flight time. 30 minute stop, you can't do it faster than that with pax, I've tried. Leg 2 2:00 flight time. Hike away. Now to get back the next morning you need to buy some of that $7/gallon fuel Hailey is so proud of. Dang even with a moderate tailwind and leaving fuel behind, you have to make a stop just barely, but you don't cheat reserves.... right. So stop in KRAP again, good fuel prices, 1:43 and 966 lbs. Then on to DLH, 1:53 and 1026 lbs with 30 minutes on the ground.

Chuck took 4 of his FAA friends, all FAA gals, coming along with my wife in the M600. The M600 can hold enough fuel to make it non-stop both directions with a light load of gals and luggage. KDLH to KSUN, 1298 lbs of fuel and 4:28 Going back non-stop the next day, 1094 lbs and 3:41.

So total round trip. And prices with the expensive Sun Valley and DLH fuel pulling the averaging fuel price to at least $5:

SF50: 8:41 travel time, 4187 lbs of JetA $3124
M600: 8:09 travel time and 2392 lbs JetA $1785.

One trip, who cares, but if you fly an average of 200+ hours a year, adding up those extra stops, often having to descend into weather to get fuel, Not being able to take even intermediate trips, because you can't find a legal alternate within range, gets a little aggravating. Did I mention that KRAP was IFR with reported moderate ice in the descent

All speculation

Is this not the case with every airplane?

You think

There are some absolutes. New planes never go down in price. Few make money on low price points in aviation. The laws of aerodynamics and gravity continue to hold fast.

Coming from someone that flies a PC12 with 1800 nm range, and a lav