Piper Meridian...Can It Compete with TBM 700?

[JETPILOT]

What are your thoughts on the Piper Meridian. Will it be able to compete with the TBM 700? A plane designed as a turboprop for the begining.

For One I would be more apt to buy the TBM 700. The interior is plush. Looks like a turboprop interior. Not a recips. Since the TBM was designed as a turboprop the interior was designed with factors such as weight involved. The Meridain was designed for a recip interior. Can't compete in my opinion.

Larry

[dentist 2003]

well, what are your thoughts on the price difference. These figures may be dated (or wrong for that matter), but doesn't the socata cost 3X what the piper is going to cost. Anyway, if that is true, I'd rather have three meridians than a 700. Anyway, inside the 700 is not as nice as I thought it would be.

[BOHIXON]

I think the fact that the price is about half as much as the TBM and the speed is only about 40 knots slower will be competition in itself. Personally, I like the Meridian panel better. I'm not sure about the fuselage, but I know the wings of the malibu were modified for the meridian design. What parts of the interior are you refering to? What about the JetProp DLX conversion for the malibu, isn't that basically a meridian without the nicer panel? It seems as though if someone was going to spend 2.5 million on a TBM, why not spend 1 million more and get a pilatus? Much bigger cabin and not much slower than the TBM, but the TBM will always be the 300-knot single.

[tomhorn]

Well first of all the cost diference is about $1.6Mil for the Meridian and about $2.5Mil for the TBM700. If you can afford the extra $ the TBM flies faster, longer and carries more weight. Also it does not have the limits on Vne and Structural cruising that the Meridian has, but both have their markets. Actually in the bang for the buck dept, I thing the best value in class is the Pilatus PC12 at about $3.2Mil, a true cabin class 8 place, roomy and fast with 1,250 SHP (vs 500SHP meridian, 700SHP TBM.) Another highly worthwhile consideration is to just buy a Malibu with a run out engine (any Mirage with more than 500 hrs) and have the DLX conversion done. this can be accomplished for about $1.2Mil and gets you a 550SHP PT-6 and all the bang of a meridian and more in an STCed package. Dollar for dollar, I'd take a 5-6 year old TBM, at about $1.6Mil-$1.8Mil over a new Meridian or a 5-6 year old PC12 at about $2.2Mil over a new TBM700. The simple fact is, however, that some people just long for a new airplane and if they have under $2Mil to spend and want a turboprop, they are getting a Meridian.

BTW anyone who wants to do a 3 or 4 way partnership on a PC12, TBM, DLX or Meridian in the southern great lakes email me at exchangelawyer@cbpu.com I'm serious.

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Tom Legg
Lake N616RW

[timd]

The Meridian is probably a nice airplane and a fine first choice for someone wanting to step up to turbines. It does have a few of the limitations left over from the Mirage but on the whole I think it is OK. I am very impressed with the Pilatus in spite of the fact that I own and fly a King Air. It is beautifully and solidly constructed and gives every appearance of being a fine airplane. I suspect the design philosophies behind the Meridian, TBM-700 and the Pilatus are different in each case which is not a negative comment but simply and expression about their respective end uses might be.

[BOHIXON]

All of these planes are really great. What it comes down to is what you want. Starting at the top (size wise) you have the pc12. Huge load capability, respectable speed, lots of room, very capable. In my mind, it's the best value by far.

The TBM is a cool plane too. It is the 300 kt production single. Remember that a Lancair 4 will smoke it anyday of the week when it comes to speed, if you want to include homebuilts. I spoke to some dealers at oshkosh and they said there were some changes in store for the plane to make it more competitive with the Meridian, namely a 35,000ft ceiling. It is fast, it does have excellent avionics (I believe a four tube EFIS is optional, the same system as the pc12), and it has fantastic range.

The meridian seems to be at the bottom of the food chain in this world though, at least to me. It looks like it could be an amazing plane, but for what it has in the cockpit, it lacks in the payload and range as compared to the other 2. The interior is just fine, it's very close to the TBM. It does have a respectable cruise speed, but I just don't think that it can compete. In a way, it's in a world of it's own. It is a perfect "step-up" single engine turbine. Remember that when piper polled it's malibu owners about the possibility of a turbine version of the plane, they found that over 90% of them were traveling by themselves or with one other, which makes the plane fine for that type of mission.

The jetprop is another story. I have heard many complaints about wind noise around the door due to the higher speeds on the "regular" malibu fuselage. Remember that things were "beefed up" on the meridian. The jetprop actually has a lower SHP PT6 than the meridian, but they are able to get more speed out of it because of the inlet design, and some other things I can't recall.

Like I said, it all comes down to what you want. A lot of people still won't even consider touching these because they are single engines, but thats a whole different conversation. Let's just say I wouldn't kick one out of the hanger!