The Extra 500 turboprop never became popular as the company went into bankruptcy and apparently not many were built.
It’s an appealing airplane to me ( I like the looks, others hate it) as it’s turbine reliability, pressurized, FIKI, 6 seats, reasonably fast, reasonable range, mid to high teens flyer so can fly under basic med.
It’s an orphan of a plane and support must be challenging.
I was curious if any are registered and flying in the United States as they seem to mostly be in Europe
It would require a good AP and the understanding you are somewhat alone in taking this plane into the future. Insurance, training, maintenance etc

Maybe an owners group exists ?
Just curious
Thx

Greg

As far as I'm aware, there is only one EA-500 operating in Europe.

None are registered in the U.S. in the FAA database. (EA-400 has several hits, but EA-500 has zero. https://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquir ... delInquiry )

If you're interested in the type, I'd recommend starting with this forum (https://www.euroga.org/forums/aircraft/7297-extra-400) and seeing what the challenges were facing the EA-400. Pressurization and heating were challenges which I expect plague the EA-500 as well.

I agree it is a neat looking airplane and a high-wing SETP is a very neat concept, but I think your investigation will prove to be fully academic unless you have a lot of money to throw at it. (And even then, maybe it is unfeasible since Extra is still in business even though they sold off the design in the bankruptcy).

At Cessna, we had a testbed P210 with a small block Allison turboprop.

It was zippy down low, but no faster than a P210R up high.

It was an ear popper and really needed a higher cabin pressure differential, which would be a pretty big deal.

There is a 400, the piston version, based at EVV, Evansville Indiana. It hasn’t been around long but it seems to be in the hangar a lot.

Brad

Buy a Silver Eagle P210. Slightly less of a orphan

There are a lot of reasons the Mirage M350 is still selling and the EA400/500 aren’t. But was a nice try by Extra.

It was EA 500 I think for sale of Florida a few months ago, it had a panel with Garmin G500 and all of that. But they wanted half a million for it.

There's one in FL now for $950,000

https://www.controller.com/listing/for- ... p-aircraft

IIRC, the Extra 400, had liquid cooled pistons.

The big negative of the airplane was cylinder cracking due to uneven cooling.

It was never a big seller.

Butch

I also really liked it (I think it's pretty, too) and thought it would be a great little option for the right buyers.

However, although EASA and FAA certified, it is only IFR certified in Europe - the FAA IFR certification never happened due to the troubles the company had. So this is a VFR plane only in the US.

Also, the RR250 is thermodynamically challenged up high and lose a lot of power, so this is no speed demon.

RR also stopped developing the old Allison series and this would have been a good candidate for the proposed RR300 engine, but that also never saw the light iof day.

Really sad it didn't go any further. Heard the type certificate was bought by a Chinese company years ago, but nothing has happened since. Re-engined, FAA IFR certified, this could be a cool little plane.

The EA400 apparently had some issues that Extra ran out of money to solve. The pressurization system didn't work as well as it should, and the heater wasn't effective up into the flight levels.

It is likely that the EA500 had similar flaws (though I haven't read firsthand knowledge of that, so it's a guess), though it does sound like the current operators of the EA400s have introduced various fixes to improve reliability of the small fleet still flying.

It's expensive enough keeping a pressurized single operating with manufacturer support. I'm not sure if the airplane's de facto "orphan" status makes that easier or not in the eyes of the FAA. Maybe it opens up options to convert to experimental?

NIL: I have personally flown and/or Inspected (I'm an FAA A&P/IA) a half dozen Extra 400s and the 500, N85ZS, that is listed in Florida.

Facts :

The Extra EA-500 was developed by Extra Flugzeugbau GmbH, though the design rights for the EA-400/500 series were sold to the Chinese company Jiangsu A-Star Industry Co., Ltd. in 2014 The Type Certificate for the Extra EA-500 is now held by SST Flugtechnik, a German company that provides support for existing aircraft, , with SST retaining the certificate.

Out of the 30 EA 400/500 series built, only 4 or 5 where 500s.

TRUE: The 500 is only IFR certified in Europe - the FAA IFR certification never happened due to the troubles the company had. So this is a VFR plane only in the US.

I would think that putting it on a Special Airworthiness Certificate might be the best way to operate IFR in the US.

IMO, the Allison / TP is a better match for this airframe than the liquid cooled Continental.

Name five or even 10 please. Thanks

Best,
Tom

1. Faster piston for piston turbine for turbine. Actually I think even the piston PA46 is faster than the turbine EA500. Turbine no comparison at all.

2. Farther (range)

3. Warmer cabin

4. Better infrastructure

5. Better parts supply

6. Better more reliable pressurization system

7. Better useful load

8. More reliable engine

9. Better range for given payload.

10. More modern avionics and systems.

If you compare the M350 to the EA4/500, one looks like a real production aircraft, and the other looks a little like "My first Airplane" by Fisher Price