I would have thought the Eclipse would have been close.

Forgot that among other shortcomings, the early Eclipse models were short-legged, but didn't realize they were that range restricted.

Hard to imagine two 331s averaging 58gph on both engines when including start, taxi, climb etc. unless you are able start and takeoff really really fast. I have every flights data on our -6 since 2009 but too much work to go through it. We did tend to have long taxi time (burns a lot of gas at idle on the ground).

But really if 10 or 30 additional gph changes the affordablity needle it might not be the type of plane to choose.

The TSG has very detailed fuel consumption data in it for all variants.

Turbines are just cool... a great reason alone to own.

Another saving nobody talks about. My Aerostar needed oil changed every 50hrs. That was $500 per change if you took it to a mechanic with decowling, manpower etc. That's $18K over the course of a piston engine TBO. TPE's need oil changes maybe every 400-800hrs. They savings almost pay for the HSI's. Almost.

No, my 65GPH is flight time, not hobbs times, that's right on man!

TPE oil change every 900 hours if it makes it that far without being opened up.

Don’t forget TPE also needs SOAP samples every 100 hours at $500 each go for a twin. The SOAP sample fallout cost ranges from zero to $25k depending on results. Usually clean results though. Although we had a few non-clean and experienced all the extremes of results including boxing a motor up and shipping for repair. We made a nice box.

The TPE331 oil reservoir is a transmission case. I've added a 1/2 quart in 100 hours.

Correct it’s engine and prop/gearbox.

They can usually catch issues in the 100hr screen cycle. Although with a dash-1 or dash-2 torque sensor I’d probably drop that to 50 ish hours.

And they can usually pinpoint the problem from the analysis. I always just dropped my samples directly with Ray at the Honeywell SOAP labs and usually got results back that same day.

Edit: the process of pulling the SOAP sample probably results in that ~half quart loss~ between what you siphon out and what’s in the filter and filter housing.

The Merlin III series of aircraft are built to spec for these trips.

Spectrometric Oil Analysis Program (SOAP)

TPE oil change every 900 hours if it makes it that far without being opened up.

Don’t forget TPE also needs SOAP samples every 100 hours at $500 each go for a twin. The SOAP sample fallout cost ranges from zero to $25k depending on results. Usually clean results though. Although we had a few non-clean and experienced all the extremes of results including boxing a motor up and shipping for repair. We made a nice box.

Honeywell kit is $250 each and includes filter and collection bits and the evaluation. The service from Honeywell was fantastic on this. They were always very helpful.

I think others have the same process but I liked being able to have consistent analysis and lucky for me Honeywell SOAP lab is a short drive so I just dropped with the techs myself.

The last time I bought a SOAP kit, the price had jumped over $100. I wish I knew it earlier as I would have bought a case of them!

Another cost to consider if you fly a lot is that the MU-2 requires an inspection every 100 hours while the Aerostar (and other piston twins) can fly a few hundred hours between annuals. But of course they generally don’t make that without service so unless you get very lucky, the piston twin needs service during that time while the turbine rarely needs anything in the 100 hours between inspections. For me, though, that means a pretty long flight to a designated service center and an airline trip home. Repeat in reverse a few days later when done. Another way the turbine service centers seem to be different than what I experienced with piston twin service: when they say it will take them three days to inspect the plane, it’s done and ready in three days; no more, no less. I really enjoy flying, so taking the plane on a trip for service is somewhat fun (except for the airline part). I just bring work and try to make the most of it. But, it’s definitely a cost that adds to the ownership expense.

I can't imagine airlining back and forth for maintenance. One of our shops is two hours away by car, which seems awful.

I know you guys fly several different brands...do you have to do that for all of them?