The first Garmin 1000-equipped TBM 850 very fast turboprop aircraft was delivered to an Australian customer in late February.
The lucky owners of the new aircraft, Victoria-based Warwick and Katrina Hawksworth, selected the DAHER-SOCATA TBM 850 following a meeting with representatives of the European-based company at the 2009 Avalon Airshow.
“We selected the TBM 850 after several years of marketing research, which determined that DAHER-SOCATA’s very fast turboprop was the best in speed, low operating costs and short-field operations,” Warwick Hawksworth said.
Fresh off the production line, the Hawksworth’s is a model year 2010 TBM 850 and equipped with the Garmin G1000 avionics suite. The G1000 has been integrated as standard on the TBM 850 since 2008, making this one of the more advanced light business aircraft doing the rounds these days.
The TBM 850 has a maximum cruise speed of 320 KTAS at 26,000ft (in ISA conditions), making it the fastest single engine turboprop in the world today. The aircraft is an 850 shaft horse power version of SOCATA’s proven six-seat TBM 700 turboprop business aircraft, and combines the cruising speed and travel times typical of light jets with economical direct operating costs.
The Hawksworths will use their new aircraft for corporate transportation for their financial planning company Capstone Financial Services.
“The recognition of the TBM 850’s efficiency and operational attributes by a company such as Capstone Financial Services is a real endorsement of our aircraft’s value for entrepreneurs,” said Nicolas Chabbert, Senior Vice President of DAHER-SOCATA’s Airplane Division. “We expect further growth of the TBM fleet in Australia – a large country that is well suited to our very fast turboprop’s capabilities in corporate transportation.”
Clearly keen to get his new machine home safe and sound, Warwick Hawksworth flew his new TBM 850 from DAHER-SOCATA’s production facility in France to Australia with Capstone Aviation company pilot Rodney Irvine. This 10,850nm trip took 37 hours and 15 minutes and included stopovers in Greece, Egypt, Dubai, India, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, and Darwin, Mt Isa and Melbourne.