Hard to beat the SETP for utility. I fly the slow cousin of the TBM, the M600, I can still beat commercial door to door almost anywhere in North America. Factor in layovers, non-optimal airports versus GA airports close to destination, wasted time for luggage, security, and ground transportation, rare that I can't beat the airlines. I used to commute to Anchorage from Salt Lake. Was a solid day of travel, no matter how you sliced it. I would have to switch in Seattle, and with typical delays, you have to put in a pretty good buffer on the layover or risk missing the connection, on mostly overbooked flights. A good day would be 11 hours travel time door to door to my house in Ogden UT.

7.5 hours door to door in the M600, even at an extreme 1865 nm, beat the airlines by 4 hours, not counting the suboptimal departure times available. I landed with 1.5 hours reserve fuel. My trips to the East coast are usually non-stop with one stop West bound, where I usually tanker some really cheap fuel. As long as my plane is available, I really try to not fly commercial.

Chuck you've got a cast iron butt! After 3.5 hours I'm ready to get out of the plane and 4.5 is about my limit so I break it up. Yesterday I flew 1313 NM in 5:54 but made a stop midway. The winds were terrible and picking altitude vs. fuel burn and TAS was a bigger puzzle than usual. I flew the second leg at 22k which is about as low as I've ever done it. Even there winds were over 80 knots on the nose for most of the flight.

The outbound trip was 4.39 which was, and certainly seemed a lot faster! Too bad we can't just circle the globe!

On that flight I had an up and coming pilot looking for a career that wanted some high altitude, turbine experience. So Every now and then would just go to the back and enjoy the experience. The seats are very comfortable for me. Piper went with a new high density foam to make the seats thinner for more head and legroom. Seems to be the best seats yet. But I do like to fly. It is just ME time. . On this day, though, most would not want to stop. Most of Alaska and Western Canada was LIFR. I heard a few commercial ops going actual missed along the way. So overflying was almost as much a safety issue as convenience. Plus as much as I love Canadians, they are sure proud of their jet fuel and ATC services, so saved several hundred dollars.

Tony - I made it from Boston area (New Bedford) direct to NW Arkansas last month, but I landed with only 45 min of fuel (severe clear at destination). OKC would have been a stretch for sure, when you stop on the way home how long are you on the ground? Ever had any trouble with ITTs on the restart that can't be handled with some motoring?

Coming back from Utah last week at FL290...

Mark, you're just rubbing it in! Saturday was a long day for me. KBED-KDAY-KPWA. The winds were so bad on the second leg we landed with 55 minutes (I really want 60 but it was VFR).

I try to do quick turns and at KDAY last week they were moving the truck before I shut down. We were at the FBO about 15 minutes. I stop at Cutter at KABQ frequently on the way to California. I'm generally there 20 minutes or so before starting back up. I have never had a problem on restart. Never had to motor more than 30 seconds before introducing fuel. The FBO's do a good job and at most airports I stop at there isn't a lot of ground taxi and holding time. It's the descents, climbs and vectoring that slow you down.

For a relatively quick turn, parking into the wind and closing (turning off/switch down) the inertial separator upon shutdown makes a significant difference in the subsequent restart. Shutting down directly from high idle helps a bit as well (still in feather, but high idle).

Does the TBM have an ITT limit before introducing fuel on the start?

The King Air POH just has a max ITT on start, but nothing about a max temp to initiate the start process...

Robert

Does the TBM have an ITT limit before introducing fuel on the start?

The King Air POH just has a max ITT on start, but nothing about a max temp to initiate the start process...

Robert

Fascinating - You're saying that if you do a quick turn and the engine's at 200dC it will spike to 900 on the start? I haven't experienced that, but I haven't done that many quick turns nor have I noted the pre-start ITT temp either.

I can't recall a time my starts were above 700 period...

The sum total of my PT6 time is with the two -135s I have on my plane, so it's a very small sample set!

Robert

RJ,
In the TBM you motor it prior to adding fuel and if it's really TX hot on shut down too. Get her down, motor without fuel, to a cooler 120-150C, for the start, and should be no problem adding fuel and getting started quick enough with a good battery. (When I got her to 150C or less never had an issue). While I know some who had issues with hot starts I never did using the established procedures on some very hot and high days. Great machine...

Chris C also gave some good pointers for how to add some cushion for the quick turns being discussed. I've turned around in 20 minutes before and motored her prior to shutdown and prior to start when OAT was ~103 on the ramp.

Pretty much, but the trick is to know the numbers and motor until about 130 dC, before introducing fuel, then the spike will be 830dC for a few seconds. The limit on my engine (-66) is 840 dC.

Ah, that's part of the issue. Start limit on the -135 is 1090 so I have a lot more breathing room.

That being said, I've never seen it go above (or anywhere near) the max contiguous redline (805) on start. Normal (from a cold start) start is about 700.

Interesting how different variants of the PT6 can behave differently.

Robert

How do you motor prior to shutdown? Low idle?

Motor:
After going thru the normal shutdown routine, while still windmilling turn on starter No fuel, time no more than 30 seconds, or stop at 120C on temp.

Did you see the cool off procedure posted on TBMOPA forum?
Using a modified leaf blower and a cowl scoop foam insert with a hole, a 2 minute run of cool air substantially lowered temperatures post shut down, allowing for a quick turn without motoring.
A large drop in temps was followed by a steady rise post blowing, the temps remained below the cooling achieved by motoring.
I thought it was a great idea. The author backed up the data with temp/time graphs.
Several responders questioned the viability of carrying a lithium leaf blower or small gas engine in the plane.
If the Pilatus can haul a pair of fueled up motorcycles, I doubt a quart of engine fuel in a metal can and an empty gas leaf blower would pose a problem.
Not sure about lithium ion batteries but the mfgrs. claim them to be stable.
Fireproof battery bags are available if one was extra careful.