The G2 SF50 is supposed to be quieter. I don’t believe the G1 is quieter than the Meridian though. Both need headsets to deliver the best experience, but I do have some pax that don’t wear headsets. About 85 Dba in the back. Similar to an airliner on take off and climb depending on seat. Too loud for me to be comfortable without headset, but not dangerous. Plus with satellite music, and blue tooth headsets pax either like to listen to music or pipe their own entertainment from their phone or tablet. Everyone learns to their own technique to get in a cabin class plane. Once you figure out what works for you, you don’t even think about it. Once in place the cockpit is quite comfortable. I would rate the front seat comfort above the PC12, Mustang and M2. Those are just some planes I have flown in. But might depend on body size. I was 6’2 225 when I started flying these birds, prob 6’1 and a half and slimmed to 190 lbs now. But plenty big for me.

I heard once the thickness of one’s wallet is directly proportional to the ability of someone to fit in a PA46. If you have a thin wallet, pretty much everyone fits. If the wallet is really really thick, then another plane prob fits better. The more I fly the thinner my wallet gets

Charles, that’s a great view and those seats…. That color is really good looking. Does Piper allow customization like Cirrus does with their Xi design path?

Yes. You can customize anything. You can choose from designs and palettes of existing products external and internal at no extra cost, or request your own customization at some cost depending on what you want. Since they make almost everything for an M600 in house they can do whatever you want. I have seen some truly amazing interiors and paint schemes coming out of the factory recently.

I consider my G2 to be pretty quiet. Anecdotally, I don’t hear much difference between my plane, and the light jets I’ve chartered in the past. I’d personally have no issue riding in the plane without a headset.

However, the plane is much louder when the AC system is operating. The compressor is located in the nose, and it’s cooled by a door that opens as required. When the AC kicks on, there is a distinct increase in the sound level, to the point it alarms first time passengers. Happily, the AC doesn’t need to run very often, and I usually tell my passengers that they don’t need to worry about strange noises, unless there is sweat dripping from my forehead!

Has anyone taken a decibel meter onboard to verify or are we just going off conjecture and opinion on noise levels?

I found that Noise level can vary greatly based on phase of flight, due to the cabin pressure and ambient outside pressure

I volunteer to do that. Can you all supply me the chance to be one of the mouth breathers in the back?

Updated video from Austin
[youtube]https://youtu.be/Rso7FcEjPOQ[/youtube]

The new video is definitely more balanced. He added caveats that the wing size and shape aids low speed handling and more generally that the designers made trade-offs (as all designs are).

I do still find it odd that he compared a GA jet to a T-38. Effectively all GA aircraft are side by side, not tandem, so that comparison is spurious. Further, having an open and airy cabin is desirable in GA, even if it adds 15 minutes to a flight. It would have made more sense to compare it to a P-100 or Mustang.

And I thought it was because ...

Yeah agree, I guess he's trying to make the point that the Cirrus has too much frontal area and therefore too much drag for a jet, and pointed out the 3x row in the back as egregious... but a better comparison of frontal area would be to other GA jets like the M2 or HondaJet. No one is going to buy a tandem jet for GA! To me the performance parameters are the big drawback..

The cabin on the Vision is unquestionably great. The jet engine is novel but arguably not the best tool for the job. I would like to see Austin bring the VisionJet into PlaneMaker and put a PT6 in the nose and see how it performs in X-Plane.

When you breed a Pitts and a MIG you get a PIG.

When you breed a Citation and an Ercoupe you get a CirrusJet.

That impact would be a lot less if it could fly in thinner air. At FL400 this is probably a 350-360 knot airplane and would keep up with the likes of the Mustang, 501, and other entry level jets.

The ceiling is the main performance limitation of the SF 50. It is limited to turboprop altitudes and there fore provides turboprop performance, albeit with jet negatives (runway drag, cost, fuel flow, type rating, etc).

Mike C.

You can see that potential in the Stratos 716 experimental jet. https://www.stratosaircraft.com/716-aircraft

edit: their numbers may be estimates.

That is great.


As I mentioned in another thread....I come here for the humor these days and that is funny!

(side note...I had a parachute rigging loft at Ramona airport for quite a while and installed a small parachute on my bicycle. When time to stop, I would toss it out and slam on the brakes.) Solely to get a laugh.

(Is that considered thread drift?)

I'd say its biggest performance limitation is the slow rate of climb. With a maximum rate of climb less than 1,900 fpm even at sea level, it would take too long to get to FL400 for it to be useable no matter what speed was on offer up there.