Tarbes, France, September 21, 2016 – Daher today announced the completion of its 800th TBM very fast turboprop business aircraft, which has rolled out from the company’s final assembly line at France’s Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrenees Airport.
This milestone aircraft is a TBM 930 – the latest addition to the TBM family of very fast turboprop aircraft, which is in production along with the TBM 900 version.
"The 800th TBM represents another important achievement and highlights the success of our very fast turboprop aircraft family, whose first model – the TBM 700 – entered into production 25 years ago,” said Nicolas Chabbert, Senior Vice President of the Daher Airplane Business Unit. “We remain confident in the TBM family’s future, backed by continuous developments that brought us to the latest TBM 930 and TBM 900 versions today, creating a strong foundation for the years to come.”
For the 800th TBM rollout, Daher employees involved in the TBM program gathered around the aircraft for a photo before the TBM 930’s departure to the United States – where it will be received by Elliott Aviation in Des Moines, Iowa, which is Daher’s authorized TBM distributor for North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota and Iowa.
"We owe this success to the commitment of our teams to meet the expectations and the passion of our customers for this unique aircraft," Chabbert added. “Year after year, our customers and operators appreciate the TBM’s speed, comfort, operating efficiency and excellent handling characteristics.”
The TBM 700 was the first civilian pressurized single turboprop aircraft to be certified, entering full production in 1991. Strong growth in sales was experienced beginning from 2006 with availability of the TBM 850, powered by an 850-horsepower Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 engine that replaced the original 700-horsepower PT6A version utilized on TBM 700s.
Enhancements of the TBM’s avionics resulted in the all-glass integrated Garmin G1000 avionics suite’s introduction on the TBM 850, continuing the aircraft’s market attractiveness.
The milestone 500th TBM was a TBM 850 version that rolled out of the factory in 2009, followed by the 600th at the end of 2011 (also a TBM 850). The 700th TBM was a TBM 900 completed in 2014.
As the latest TBM family members, Daher’s TBM 900 and TBM 930 already have logged more than 150 orders since their launch in 2014, with 132 delivered as of September 15, 2016.
In developing the TBM 900, Daher integrated further improvements for its very fast turboprop aircraft family that included aerodynamic optimization through the addition of winglets, a vertical tailfin strake and new tail cone; the use of a five-blade composite propeller and redesigned spinner; enhanced human-machine interface features, and a restyled cockpit panel for increased visibility and interaction with secondary system controls.
The TBM 900 utilizes Garmin’s G1000 avionics system – incorporating a pair of 10-inch screens and a multifunction display sized at 15 inches, along with a physical keyboard for navigation and communication functions.
With the TBM 930, Daher retained the TBM 900’s airframe enhancements while integrating the Garmin G3000 avionics suite – the first touchscreen-controlled glass flight deck ever designed for light turbine aircraft, with three wide-format WXGA displays. In terms of aesthetics, Daher’s enhanced interior for the TBM 930 features redesigned seating and headrests, along with a new choice of wood or carbon finishes. For an additional touch of style, polished metal is used for handles, door sills and steps.
To date, TBM aircraft have logged a combined total of 1.37 million flight hours, which is equivalent to 8,500 around-the-world flights. The global fleet of TBM 700s, TBM 850s, TBM 900s and TBM 930s are flown by more than 730 customers in 35 countries on six continents.
About Daher - www.daher.com
Daher is an equipment supplier developing integrated industrial systems for aerospace and advanced technologies. By combining its expertise in industrial manufacturing, product and process engineering, logistics and transport, and industrial services, Daher designs and develops integrated industrial systems. Daher has established itself as a leader in five fields of activity: aircraft manufacturing, aerostructures and systems, integrated logistics, nuclear services, and valves. In 2015, Daher posted a turnover superior to one billion euros, and its order book stands at around three-and-a-half years of turnover. Driven by bold innovation ever since it was founded in 1863, Daher has established itself today as one of the major players of the factory of the future – Factory 4.0.
About Daher TBM aircraft - www.tbm.aero
Unveiled on April 5, the 2016 models of the TBM 900 and the TBM 930 are the newest members of Daher’s TBM business turboprop aircraft family.
They benefit from the same performance and technical features that contributed to the great success of the TBM 900, a six-passenger aircraft. Differences between the two models are concentrated on their primary avionics.
Daher’s Model Year 2016 TBM 900 retains the liquid crystal displays with Garmin’s G1000 avionics system – incorporating a pair of 10-inch screens and a multifunction display sized at 15 inches, along with a physical keyboard for navigation and communication functions. New this year is the TBM 900’s Bluetooth FS 210 connection system, which enables the use of a tablet or smart phone to prepare maps and flight plans.
The Daher TBM 930 integrates the Garmin G3000 avionics suite with a split-screen mode, enabling maps and flight plans to remain on the three screens of 12 inches each, installed side-by-side with primary, traffic and weather information. The high-resolution displays’ use is enhanced with the synthetic vision mode. A new glass touchscreen controller serves as the pilot’s primary point of entry, displaying communication and other navigation controls.
Both the TBM 900 and TBM 930 offer performance close to that of light business jets: maximum cruise speed of 330 knots (611 km./hr.), maximum range of 1,730 naut. mi. (3,200 km.), while providing greater flexibility with their load-carrying capacity and the ability to operate from small airports.
Another much-appreciated feature of the TBM 900 and TBM 930 is their ability to operate from high altitude airports, maintaining their performance even in hot weather. They need only 1,200 meters of runway to take off and land from such runways as Mexico City (8,000 ft.) even at an ISA temperature of +30°C.
The TBM aircraft family is well suited for public passenger transport, and its use in such operations is expanding with changes in airworthiness regulations for single-engine turboprop aircraft. In France, regulations have enabled the TBM to be used for public passenger transport since 2013. Based on the French experience, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) plans to allow these types of operations across Europe beginning next year.
