Turbo commander is an excellent airplane. 441 costs a bit more and can have better avionics. I think the toilet is better positioned and the nose baggage is very useful in the 441. Legacy citation costs a bit more than a 441 and is even better. Depends on what you want to spend I think.

Get a big hanger and avoid turbulence.

Mike C.

Interested in reading (another thread?) regarding your experiences with the DA62...

Oooooo I'm already rolling up my sleeves. We should make a new thread.

My step up into the turbine world was a meridian, mu2, and now a 501. The last two planes are thanks to threads on here that Tarver and Ciholas have put so much time into. LOVED my mu2, but not gonna miss the tpe331 hot section costs and spinning those props after every flight. Got a great deal on my mu2 knowing it was almost time for hot sections on both, and each cost around $110k. Looks like hot sections on the 501 will hopefully run around $25K. Affordable Used and serviceable parts are plentiful on the 501, not so much on the MU2, unless you go to Chuck. I was happy with the meridian as well. I've done 2-2hour legs with 6 adults and no one got snippy haha. But I sure the love safety of two jet engines and being able to go high over the weather. Plenty of in depth threads here on the forum about all of them! I sit in a TBM every year at Oshkosh and they are amazing. But I'd rather have my $600k 501. I did full Garmin glass on it and it's getting paint and interior next month. Will look like a brand new jet for under $1M all in.

Who did the hot sections? Per two maintenance shops and one overhaul facility I called during the purchase process, and a couple of owners since, that is at least three times the average hot section. One of our engines ate a bird with a previous owner, and even that bill was substantially less than that. Were those overhauls?

It seems like some owners turn the props, some don’t. I’m a little confused logically with that, as on shutdown it must spin hundreds of times on the way down. I’m not sure what a dozen extra will do, but sometimes I do motor the props (much faster than I could do by hand) if it’s hot out a few minutes after shutdown, especially if I plan to start in the next 45 mins. Not sure if that is needed otherwise, I suspect it is something that sounded good in the 60s when the engines were being developed. Certainly the APU versions don’t get the benefit of this, and I don’t see West Star do this after flights. I was told the shaft bow is only an issue on new engines where tolerances are extra tight.

Intercontinental Jet did the first, Arkansas Turbine did the 2nd. Not overhauls.

Not all 331s are maintained the same. -1/-5/-6’s are generally costlier hot sections. -10s are modular and significantly cheaper to maintain and repair.

Mine was a -6. HTH.

Mine was a -6. HTH.

Meanwhile in the realm of a TBM vs. M600 thread, the M600 continues to fly without drama. My 140 nm milk run today in 37 minutes burning just over 200 Lbs of fuel door to door. Would be less but had to shoot the ILS, adding some distance and time. Plus I was running late and it was cold so max performance most of the trip burning more dinosaurs than normal.

I started some training in a TBM900. Nice machine. Interesting to compare to our old Meridian and Epic LT.

Hard to believe it but can't find any mach limitation. Vmo of 271 KCAS at 31000' is mach .73. Doesn't seem right to me.

That is a pretty high Vmo up that high. But if the airframe will do it?? The Meridian doesn’t have a mach limitation either. Piper went with a straight Vmo limitation. But the Vmo is pretty low to begin with. I rarely get near the Vmo or Mmo in our plane 251/0.55. Have to be going downhill pretty steeply. The Epic has a much bigger engine.

It's a little sporty for every day flying

You'd only do it in an emergency. Fire or loss of cabin pressure. Emergency descent mode bugs 260 KIAS I'm told but can't find the AP's parameters in literature except 90° off course and leveling off at 15,000 feet.

That's still over mach .70 passing through FL290, assuming you build ~70 knots indicated in a dive starting from FL310. In non FADEC planes during EDM, power lever would still be in cruise position. You're coming down hot/shallow.