In FL I'd take it to Sun Aviation at KVRB.

Personally I would take the extra effort and get a guy that knows that model to do the pre buy. In PA46 that can be a $200K mistake to have some random look at it. And lots of Randoms say they have the experience with the model, but they don't know what they don't know.

The names given in this thread should be your short list and required for pre buy. Unless you are getting a steal of a deal and $200K isn't a big deal then I would take it to the pros.

And in my experience there are very few "good" deals in airplanes. If it's cheaper there is a reason.

With my PA46 Malibu Aerospace found over $150K in discrepancies during pre buy. I think the purchase price was $375K back then so thats a large percentage of the overall value.

Mike

Flightline in Tallahassee is a good PA46 shop and a Piper service center and dealer- They know these planes well and work on lots of them.

Sun at VRB would be my choice. Usually not a fan of "factory service centers", but Sun is an exception and knows the Malibu product line from beginning to end.

Piper builds the Malibu at VRB and access to parts is very good for Sun. I needed a side window for my Malibu and Boeing (former Aviall and Piper parts distributor) said the part was 8 weeks out. Tried all the big Malibu shops and nobody had one on the shelf. Called Sun and they were able to get one from Piper and ship that week.

Kevin

Personally I would take the extra effort and get a guy that knows that model to do the pre buy. In PA46 that can be a $200K mistake to have some random look at it. And lots of Randoms say they have the experience with the model, but they don't know what they don't know.

The names given in this thread should be your short list and required for pre buy. Unless you are getting a steal of a deal and $200K isn't a big deal then I would take it to the pros.

And in my experience there are very few "good" deals in airplanes. If it's cheaper there is a reason.

With my PA46 Malibu Aerospace found over $150K in discrepancies during pre buy. I think the purchase price was $375K back then so thats a large percentage of the overall value.

Mike

I taxi by their ramp frequently and seems like they are always working on 2 or 3 of these at a time.

So I'm about to put a deposit on a Meridian. From the log books it appears very well maintained and all the recurring big ticket items were done in the recent past and shouldn't be due for a while (except for the pilot side windshield). The only issue I can see is that the plane has flown very little in the last nine months (less than 10 hours). Apparently the plane was going to be sold and there was extensive back and forth and the deal eventually fell through so it wasn't flown during this time. (The owner was doing a private sale). Of course I'm going to do a comprehensive prebuy, but is this a major concern? It's not a hangar queen by any stretch and had been flown a couple of hundred hours a year the last few years.

Take it on a long trip and exercise everything. All the warning lights will go out after a while and gauges will all start reading right

Cool plane. Hope your deal works out!

Sounds like you found the right one. Windshield failure is far less common on Meridian then it is on piston PA46. Less vibration.

One more question. I currently fly under Basic Med purely for convenience, less of a PIA than getting a 3rd class medical. My insurance company is fine with Basic Med for the Meridian but do I need the Class 3 medical for the flight levels?

Yeah.

<250 kt
18,000 feet max
1 pilot + 5 passengers max

https://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificat ... /basic_med

Meridian does pretty well at 18,000 feet. About 240 KTAS on 44 gph (book says 246), with a no wind IFR reserve range of about 650 nm. If you want pressurization and turbine reliability, this is pretty good. The M600, I think, is the best basic med aircraft. A good bit faster and a lot more range at 18,000 feet.

Meridian at FL180

As long as you qualify for 3rd class, I would do it. You are giving up a lot of speed and range flying it down low. The mission plan for turbines is to climb as high as you can as quickly as you can and stay there as long as you can.

Plus you'll want it for getting over some weather enroute.

It's not even a question. If you have a Meridian and can obtain a 3rd class medical you will do so. It won't take more than a flight or two to convince you of such. Anything over 45 minutes and I'm climbing to the high 20's. Why wouldn't you? Who doesn't like saving fuel/money, going faster and avoiding weather/turbulence? But it is nice having an airframe that is optimal for Basicmed (bested only by the M600/M700), should a medical issue ever arise.

I can easily pass a class 3 medical, It's just a PIA for me to get one. I work in a somewhat remote rural area so there are no nearby AME's. I guess I should get one before I start the transition training.