Turbine Pilot: Introduction

In the envelope

A TBM 930’s G3000 cockpit shows off its envelope protection system.

Where: Tarbes, France
Photographer: Mike Fizer

Daher-Socata traditionally plays it very close to the vest. So when you ask if there’s a new airplane in the offing, the answer is, “When and if there is, we’ll let you know.”

Turns out there is a new airplane; it just came on the market, and we flew it first, during a trip to the TBM factory in March. It’s the TBM 930, a vastly upgraded variant of the TBM 900 that features Garmin’s touchscreen-operated G3000 avionics suite—the same as that used in the HondaJet, the Cessna Citations M2 and CJ3+, the Embraer Phenom 300, the Cirrus SF50, and Piper’s M600. Daher-Socata will offer both the TBM 900 and TBM 930. But the big news with the 930 is its electronic stability protection system, emergency descent management system, and flight envelope protection capabilities. Oh, and there’s a stick-shaker. And voice warnings for impending stalls, as well as a command for donning oxygen masks. The TBM 900 retains Garmin’s G1000 panel, with its keypad-operated methodology.

Look for a pilot report on the TBM 930 in an upcoming issue of Turbine Pilot.

Daher-Socata Vice President of Engineering Christophe Robin, son of famed French aircraft designer Pierre Robin, elaborated on a different topic during an entertaining lunch: Daher-Socata’s engineering work on the Airbus e-Fan electric trainer. Robin said the two-seat e-Fan will have fixed landing gear and two 80-horsepower Safran engines controlled by a single power lever. Five engineers are on the project, which should produce a certification prototype in 2017. The big challenges? As always, energy density. “To produce the same energy created by 20 liters of petroleum-based fuel, you’d need to have 200 kilograms (about 440 pounds) worth of lithium ion batteries,” Robin said. Good luck with that. Sounds like a hybrid battery/internal combustion engine setup might be in the works—to me, anyway.

I tried to get Robin to talk about the next model in Daher-Socata’s lineup. “We’re working on a range of airplanes,” he said. When pressed, out came the stock “we’ll let you know” answer. My bet’s on another TBM variant, but that may be a ways off. I’ll let you know when and if they tell me.

—Thomas A. Horne, Turbine Pilot Editor