I'm looking to upgrade from a DA62 and am interested in either a TBM 850 or a used M600. Does anyone have a Foreflight aircraft profile for a G1000 TBM 850 they could share with me? I've already got one for the M600 and am wanting to compare the two by experimenting with different loading scenarios. Email is thomrainey@gmail.com.

Here is what I'm looking to be able to accomplish with the new airplane.
1. Comfortably carry 4 adults and light bags 1,000 nm.
2. Comfortably carry 2 adults and 4 kids (10 years old and under) with light bags 1,000 nm.
3. Occasionally carry 6 adults and light bags 500 nm (doesn't have to be comfortable).
4. Can do all the above, but is also suitable for weekly, short 150 nm trips. The 500+nm trips will be about 1x per month, and the shorter trips will be 1-2x per week. I want one plane for everything so it needs to be versatile.
5. Garmin avionics with Garmin autopilot.
6. Easy to preflight and hop in and go! Don't want it to be a big ordeal to go flying.
7. Turbine reliability
8. Supported by shops/service centers within 200nm of Albany, GA (KABY).
9. Purchase price of 2.5 million and under.
10. Easy to resell in the future.

Since owning a plane at the end of 2019, I've average about 200-250 hours per year and don't expect to fly any less in the future.

I've got about 900 hours of experience. Commercial pilot ASEL, AMEL, Instrument rated, and CFI.

I think if you'll do a little searching you'll find a lot of information on point of your questions.

Thomas, are you related to Joe Rainey of Utah/Nevada? If so he could give you lots of info on the TBM.

I can tell you the TBM would do everything you want, slightly faster, slightly more comfortable, with slightly more DOC, however the total cost of ownership will be substantially higher.

The TBM can do all of the above. 4 175 lbs adults + 4 moderate bags should be under gross with full fuel.

Both of the TBM700C2 I have owned were extremely reliable. Full Garmin avionics with GFC600 autopilot.

The "TBM Performance" app for iOS or Android is really good for running these scenarios.

Not related as far as I know.

The TBM can do all of the above. 4 175 lbs adults + 4 moderate bags should be under gross with full fuel.

Both of the TBM700C2 I have owned were extremely reliable. Full Garmin avionics with GFC600 autopilot.

The "TBM Performance" app for iOS or Android is really good for running these scenarios.

I’d go sit in one of each. My plane is same size inside as 600 and I’d be hard pressed to do 6 for 2 hours. Unless they are all real small. 5 is doable as I have one middle seat out so no one’s legs interlock.

I don’t know if or how much bigger the TBM is inside.

If you want safety, comfort, speed, range, with that amount of capital, you can be in a Citation 501 and use the rest of the capital as an investment that pays for all of your fuel. Not an exaggeration.

I modeled out your profile as 50 150nm trips, 12 500 nm trips, and 6 1000nm trips (about 40,000nm total, about 225 hours of a DA62). Came to $125K fuel, 270 knots block, 185 GPH block. The large number of short flights penalizes the jet, but your are still ahead with a lower hull value (which also affects insurance, taxes, market downside risk, etc).

You seem to have a lot of passengers. Do a trial flight in a TBM, M600, and a 501 and have them vote. It will be no contest and they don't even understand the safety aspects of twin jet versus single turboprop. You find out you have a lot more friends when you have a jet, which may be positive or negative depending on your views.

You won't get a Garmin autopilot (at least, not yet) but you can get Garmin everything else like I have.

Also, I'd consider a 441. One of the nicest turboprops out there but a little expensive to get. You are AMEL, so why not have the redundancy of two? Two TPE331 are as cheap as one PT6 (especially the big block PT6 in the TBM). The range of the 441 will open up other uses.

Mike C.

TBM sounds like perfect bird for your mission.
501 has always intrigued me. Sounds like a great platform.
We fly a lot in the frozen tundra with contaminated runways……..TBM has always served us well. I’ve done 6 adults from NYC to St Louis. Kinda tight ……..headwinds were 140 knots on the nose . I wouldn’t want to do that again.

If you want safety, comfort, speed, range, with that amount of capital, you can be in a Citation 501 and use the rest of the capital as an investment that pays for all of your fuel. Not an exaggeration.

I modeled out your profile as 50 150nm trips, 12 500 nm trips, and 6 1000nm trips (about 40,000nm total, about 225 hours of a DA62). Came to $125K fuel, 270 knots block, 185 GPH block. The large number of short flights penalizes the jet, but your are still ahead with a lower hull value (which also affects insurance, taxes, market downside risk, etc).

You seem to have a lot of passengers. Do a trial flight in a TBM, M600, and a 501 and have them vote. It will be no contest and they don't even understand the safety aspects of twin jet versus single turboprop. You find out you have a lot more friends when you have a jet, which may be positive or negative depending on your views.

You won't get a Garmin autopilot (at least, not yet) but you can get Garmin everything else like I have.

Also, I'd consider a 441. One of the nicest turboprops out there but a little expensive to get. You are AMEL, so why not have the redundancy of two? Two TPE331 are as cheap as one PT6 (especially the big block PT6 in the TBM). The range of the 441 will open up other uses.

Mike C.

When I was looking to upgrade from a piston, had my wife at the time sit in each of the 6 seats of almost identically painted Meridian and TBM850 parked next to each other in the hangar. She had no idea about cost or anything else. She chose the M500 as being more comfortable. I was a little relieved and disappointed. We got the Meridian. The Meridian cabin is 2-3 inches wider, but a little less tall. Seats are softer. At least that vintage. The bottom line for pax, no measurable difference.

In the M600, Not sure how heavy your adults are. I put 2 standard couples in with guys at 180 lbs and gals at 130 lbs. Light luggage I assumed 70 lbs. You can take 253/260 gallons which would give you a range of around 1400 nm no wind at normal cruise with IFR reserves. Over 1600 nm at LRC. If someone accidentally put 7 more gallons of JetA in there, the plane would have no idea. Maybe your climb rate would be 1555fpm at SL ISA instead of 1556, but would not lose too much sleep over that. The only thing that I would mention is that the tables in the POH and ForeFlight are about 3% pessimistic. Not a big deal, but need to be aware the the 600 beats the POH in every way in the real world.

When I was looking to upgrade from a piston, had my wife at the time sit in each of the 6 seats of almost identically painted Meridian and TBM850 parked next to each other in the hangar. She had no idea about cost or anything else. She chose the M500 as being more comfortable. I was a little relieved and disappointed. We got the Meridian. The Meridian cabin is 2-3 inches wider, but a little less tall. Seats are softer. At least that vintage. The bottom line for pax, no measurable difference.

Legacy Citations sell themselves if you have someone help you understand them. They seem so scary to a newbie (even to me at one time), so it is only a matter of education and converting the fear of the unknown into comfort of the known.


Correct. The legacy Citations are falling off the charter/corporate market into the private owner/operator market. When that happens, there are not that many owner/operators with enough courage to buy one, so the market price is very reasonable.

The key realization is that you can either spend money on capital or on fuel. If capital is your choice, buy a $2.5M single engine turboprop and sip fuel. If fuel is your choice, buy a $600K Citation and find out how many friends you never knew you had.

So many pilots say they can't afford a Citation, but when you compute the true economic impact of their high cost airplane, it is shocking.

Had I bought a TBM for $2M in Dec 2020, I could probably sell it for $2.5M today.

I bought a Citation V for $700K in Dec 2020. I can sell it today for $1.5M. If the $1.3M I didn't spend was put into an SP500 index fund on purchase date, it would now be worth $2.0M.

In total capital gains, the TBM choice would be $500K, my Citation is $1.5M. I'm a $1M ahead buying the Citation.

My operating expense is probably higher than the TBM, but not by a huge amount per mile.

A nice feature of my situation is that my costs scale with usage. A high capital airplane, the capital costs exists if you use the plane or not.

From the passenger point of view, the Citation is hands down the winner compared to the turboprops.

Basic point: if you got $2.5M budget, you can fly a jet. Buy a lower cost jet and use the left over capital to create returns to pay for the higher operating costs.

Mike C.

Don’t forget the opex for the TBM programs