Come on, I can get all kinds of money at 2% interest.
With the tax write off for business depreciation I didnt see it on my bottom line.

Raleigh to Marathon in 2.5 hours. Priceless!!

:-)

when you getting that Meridian? I know you're cooking up another great startup!!

I got an airplane and way too many kids, which means I'm broke, especially with all this damn winter sports equipment

I find these side trips into how much planes cost to own for capital costs, then the debates of cost of money, followed by "I can" "no you can't" discussions regarding what you can earn a complete waste time of time. They seem to happen every time there is a discussion about an airplane someone here thinks is "expensive".

In the first place "expensive" is a relative term. It depends on your situation. Cheap to you may be unobtainable for me. What's a reasonable expense depends on a wide array of factors too - is it business or personal? How do you value your time? How much time do you really want to spend sourcing parts, service, etc? Some people cut their own lawn but others have someone else do it .

I don't think it's hard to make more than 6% today. But some do. Who cares? It would be more interesting, to me even though I've already bought one, if this thread had useful advice about "Buying a TBM".

Apparently, the OP's friend can afford a TBM if he wants one.

This is huge. Using company money and skipping the personal income tax. But still getting personal use of the machine. Some pay a personal use fee/taxable benefit and some do not. And in some cases the company plane is really used only for company business.

Check out the serious iron at various FBOs at a big race or game. They have to practically stand them on their tails. All important business use I am sure.

TBM guys,
Where is the best place to obtain initial training?

John Elford.

Turbine Solutions Inc., East

Please PM me for his number and email.

Congratulations!!!

Ron Cox.

http://www.roncoxaviation.com/index.cfm ... nstruction

I prefer real flying to sim.

Best rates for insurance I could find.

Lance VanWormer – Aviation Insurance Specialist | Aviation Division
CS&A Insurance | 1006 Merylinger Ct. Franklin, TN 37067
: 615.435.8295 | CELL: 931-334-1794 | : FAX 615.435.8795

I did Initial at SimCom followed by in-airplane with Rick Wright. It was a good combination even though it wasn't necessary. Their people will come to you or you can fly to them.

www.wrightaviation.com

I believe Todd (live in Prescott, AZ) and Joe (lives in Steamboat Springs) do most of the in-airplane flying now but the syllabus and material are comprehensive, detailed and complete. I have done recurrent training with them as well.

Brent,

I found the 7 day initial at Simcom to be very helpful. The ground school was pretty good and I've used their materials a number of times over the last 3 months of aircraft operation. You, of course, already know the value of sim training.

I was going to use John Elford for initial training in addition to Simcom but our schedules didn't mess so I flew with CJ Eliason instead. I had a really good experience with him. I plan to do my first recurrent with John. He is the guy who developed Simcom's training program and helped build their sim. He has also developed a great in airplane training program and is highly thought of in the TBM community.

Additional instructor options are listed on the TBMOPA website.

Hi Brent-
I have close to 60 of these things insured and hand's down the most requested and/or popular with those that have trained with him is John Elford - the only issue with John admittedly I get feedback on is scheduling. He is in such high demand sometimes it is tough to match schedules. Being you are mid continent (John is in FL) you might consider Walt Adair out of CA. John and Walt previously were partners in Turbine Solutions and still work as 'partners' but just separated the firm into two entities (Turbine East and Turbine West).

As someone noted the TBMOPA website also contains a nice list of training providers and contacts. Vaughn Harral (LAS) is another solid one as is Steve Davis (Aviation Training Management -ATM - out of Des Moines).

Hi Brent-
I have close to 60 of these things insured and hand's down the most requested and/or popular with those that have trained with him is John Elford - the only issue with John admittedly I get feedback on is scheduling. He is in such high demand sometimes it is tough to match schedules. Being you are mid continent (John is in FL) you might consider Walt Adair out of CA. John and Walt previously were partners in Turbine Solutions and still work as 'partners' but just separated the firm into two entities (Turbine East and Turbine West).

As someone noted the TBMOPA website also contains a nice list of training providers and contacts. Vaughn Harral (LAS) is another solid one as is Steve Davis (Aviation Training Management -ATM - out of Des Moines).

No - it can vary by underwriting company. The only carte blanche approved provider for the TBM is Simcom as Simcom has the factory entitlement training contract. All in-aircraft providers have to be approved by the specific underwriting company that is on your policy. So never take 'insurance approved' to mean much until YOUR specific underwriter approves that specific provider for YOUR specific policy.

Some of the larger in-aircraft training providers such as those mentioned in this thread are approved by the majority of the underwriting companies but you are best served before embarking on a training event to clear the provider with your underwriter to make sure they recognize them for your specific policy - otherwise you might have issue in a claim if the provider you used was not specifically approved by your underwriting company.

This concept is also one of the more commonly misunderstood in aviation insurance. The training providers don't help the confusion much as most of them proudly display 'insurance approved' on their websites. Again it doesn't mean much until YOUR underwriter approves that provider for your specific policy.

rough numbers- what does the initial training cost? and how many ground and flight instruction hours do the insurers require?

The training hours are driven by the underlying pilot experience - everyone is different and it would depend on your overall experience, prior turbine and/or pressurized aircraft experience etc. You may have nil or very little amount of mentoring required or it might be quite a bit if you are a 500 hrs pilot coming from a Cirrus.