For those with the skills and the budget for moving up into turbine-powered airplanes, a used turboprop single could make sense. On the other hand, some recent head-shaking wrecks make us pause and wonder if some owners were better suited for sitting in the aft cabin instead of the cockpit.
Success begins long before you even start flying the airplane by selecting the right model for your mission and working with sales pros who have your best interest in mind. Be open to learning as much as you possibly can about the aircraft’s systems and an expanded and more challenging flight envelope, and have an open checkbook for maintenance and training.
For this report, I talked with some of the most respected seasoned turboprop sales consultants for tips on how not to get stung by a $4 million used airplane.
Do you need one?
Perhaps you don’t. I’ve seen plenty of remorse from buyers who thought a turboprop single made sense when in reality it did not.
“It took me a while (hemorrhaging stupid amounts of money) to realize that my late-model turbocharged Cirrus was plenty of airplane for my flying, which is for business and fun,” one owner told me in the Piper M700 exhibit at AirVenture last summer.
Like many, it was easy to fall in lust with the idea of flying a turbine-powered airplane, especially if the budget can support one. Sales pros tells us that a typical first-turbine buyer might run a business and have the need to cover miles with staff and stuff onboard. In other words, they make good use of loading, speed and all-weather dispatch capability.
But that’s where the slope gets slippery, particularly when it comes to operating experience and the pressures of using the airplane for work. It’s predictable. An owner new to the airplane launches into weather they probably wouldn’t have with their piston, they get behind the airplane or deal with a failure or botch programming the avionics and autopilot—with ugly results. For some, maybe the better approach is to step-climb the turbine market, starting with an engine conversion.
Piston out, turbine in
A turbine conversion might be an easier transition for pilots who are already proficient flying their high-performance singles. For example, this buyer has logged solid real-world experience in his Cessna P210, Piper Malibu and even Beech A36 Bonanza. But swapping the piston engine for a turboprop isn’t a free lunch for the pilot. While engine operation is simplified, the flight envelope and control forces will change. Also, while the airframe has less vibration and the aircraft is certainly more powerful, all of that torque in the nose is something to respect. Plan on a lot of transition training from someone well experienced with the conversion. Your insurer will likely have some demands, and some may not insure the conversion at all.
It’s a relatively limited market for turboprop conversions and we’re told that more than half of the single-engine turboprop mods go overseas, largely because of the difficulty in finding avgas in remote areas. The other bugaboo is that not all of the companies who did the turboprop conversions are still around. You don’t want to buy an orphan. One of the more popular mods comes from Washington-based Rocket Engineering, with its JetPROP conversions. It’s been around since the early 1990s and holds STC approvals for DL (economy) and DLX (performance) modifications of the Piper Malibu using the 550-HP PT6A-21 (DL) and 560-HP PT6A-35 engines. Both have a TBO of 3600 hours with the hot section inspection requirement dropped if trend monitoring is used. A four-blade, reversing, full-feathering prop is standard. Cruise speed for the DL at FL250 is published at 231 knots while burning just over 28 GPH. VFR range is on the order of 1000 miles. Plan on the DLX being 20 knots faster while using an additional 5 GPH, with slightly shorter range.
As we’ve said in previous reports, we think the JetPROP PA-46 series is a good entry-level turboprop, generally priced around $950,000 in late 2024. Of course, the Piper Meridian (and late M500 and M600) OEM turboprop singles are out there in greater numbers. The latest M600 even has Garmin’s Autoland as standard equipment. High cruise is 260 knots at FL300 with a fuel burn of 39 GPH. The 5.5-PSI pressurization system gives a 10,200-foot cabin at FL300. As with the Malibu, the cockpit is cramped and can be uncomfortable for anyone over six feet tall. Check the specs against a PA-46 conversion, with a 5.3-PSI pressurization system giving a 9500-foot cabin at the FL270 maximum operating altitude. As with other airplanes in its class, you have to go high and stay there to get any kind of range. Plan on 1000 miles with reserves.
O&N Aircraft re-engined well over 100 Cessna P210s and 210s with the Rolls-Royce (formerly Allison) 250-B17F/2 turbine engine and called it the Silver Eagle. It’s derated to 450 HP, but that’s still a ton of thrust for an airplane that originally had a 310-HP Continental TSIO-520, which some owners complain was never quite up to the task of high-altitude pressurized flight. The Allison is also incredibly lightweight—about 125 pounds dry, plus another 75 for related hardware, for a total nose weight of just over 200 pounds. The lightest of the PT6s weigh nearly twice as much. Of course, it’s a double-edge sword. Since the 250 is lighter than the gasoline engine it replaces, batteries and other accessories have to remain forward. For performance, the Silver Eagle does its best in the high teens to low 20s and doesn’t need to get to airline altitudes for speed and economy. Max altitude for the converted P210 is 23,000 feet, but higher with supplemental oxygen. At 23,000, it can maintain a 12,000-foot cabin.
P210s modded with both the wingtip and baggage tank will have about 5.5 hours of endurance. That still leaves enough room in the baggage compartment for a moderate amount of stuff. With an empty weight of around 2700 pounds against a gross of 4000 pounds, useful load is a touch over 1317 pounds. Tank it full, and it’s really a two-person (plus dogs and cats) airplane with bags—but it’s a good traveler.
We found a handful of Silver Eagles on the market in the $850,000 price range. The highest priced one was nearly $1.2 million, with only 75 hours since it was converted. It’s the last P210 ever converted, and its owner upgraded to a Pilatus PC-12. Let’s take a look at those.
In-demand PC-12
During the research, I talked with Don Peterson at JetSwiss Aviation (www.jetswiss.com), a New Century, Kansas-based firm that specializes in Pilatus sales, acquisitions and management. I consider Peterson a Pilatus expert—previously a flight test/demonstrator pilot at the Pilatus factory and having logged over 8000 hours in all generations of the PC-12. He’s watched buying trends change over the years, while also watching resale values soar. A lot of that has to do with the plane’s reputation, but also because of the delivery backlog of new PC-12s. The buyer demographic, however, is changing. Peterson said that early on during proof of concept (a King Air-sized cabin and speed on one engine seemed too good to be true), most PC-12s were owner flown. But the demographics, according to Peterson, completely inverted with the PC-12NG, or PC-12/47E. “Nine times out of 10 the person who writes the check for a Pilatus is sitting in the back,” Peterson told us. With the concept well proven and the PC-12 much respected, the first downward pressure on the used PC-12 market started around 2005 and it’s happening again now. As deliveries of the new PC-12NGX stretched beyond a year, the value of used ones has gone way up. Peterson said tax incentives for business aircraft have boosted demand for the PC-12 even more. It’s a workhorse for hauling people and stuff. I once loaded a motorcycle through the airplane’s huge cargo door.
With a fuel burn of 50 GPH, best altitude is FL240. The 2704 pounds of usable fuel gives the airplane a stunning 1500-NM NBAA IFR range with a pilot plus five aboard. You can stay aloft some eight hours at max economy power settings. Max differential for the pressurization system is 5.75 PSI, giving a 10,000-foot cabin at FL300, the maximum certificated altitude for the airplane.
Check that against the 850-HP Daher TBM 850. In our reviews, we saw 315 knots at a fuel burn of 60 GPH. Max pressure differential is 6.2 PSI, giving a 9300-foot cabin at the maximum operating altitude of FL310. Based on conversations we’ve had with dealers, the most desirable are the TBM 700 C models starting around 2003. You’ll pay between $1.5 and $3.5 million (later model TBM 900) for well-kept and tightly wrenched TBMs.
Pandemic feeding frenzy
“If you searched PC-12s for sale on Controller.com in November 2020, you would have found around 75 listings. Jump ahead to February 2021 and that number decreased to around 35,” Peterson said. Every turbine sales pro said that the used turboprop single market peaked in mid-2022 and remains high today.
With used market values going higher and higher, on the Pilatus side, JetSwiss has been taking more of a value-ranking approach to sourcing and selling used PC-12s. Using historic algorithms (and Peterson’s deep knowledge of the product line) JetSwiss says it assists a buyer in finding the best airplane among each category (vintage) of PC-12s. In other words, “from what we see based on your budget, we think this is the best value in the market and why.”
As for operating costs, and using an older Piper Meridian as one example, we’re consistently surprised to find its operational costs are about the same as for a pressurized piston twin—although those estimates generally realistically range from $500 to $800 per hour for everything, including reserves for engine overhaul. How much for that? Plan on well north of $600,000 on average.
Stepping-stone turbine
Near the top of the list for owner-flown turboprop singles might be the Kodiak 100. It started life in the early 2000s as a Quest Kodiak before Daher bought the line a few years ago and retained the Kodiak branding. No matter what you call it, it’s a rugged machine long proven in the deep outback. I talked used Kodiaks with Mark Brown at 11 Aviation, which specializes in the turboprop singles. You won’t find anyone more in touch with Kodiaks than Mark Brown (@worldofmark on Instagram)—the most experienced Kodiak pilot in the world, having logged over 7500 hours in the type in over 50 countries.
Brown acknowledges that the Kodiak is a niche product, and while the airplane is best known for working hard in remote regions, here in the U.S. only around 80 percent of owner-flown Kodiaks actually see dirt strips. And since the Kodiak works well on floats, around 20 percent are on amphibs. High, fast and far a Kodiak 100 is not. But at $1.5 million to $3 million, it’s one of the least expensive.
With a 750-HP (700 continuous) PT6A-34 up front, a wheeled Kodiak has a max cruise of 174 knots at 12,000 feet while burning 48 GPH, giving it a VFR range of just over 1000 miles. Pulled back to max range power at the same altitude, cruise speed drops to 135 knots but fuel burn comes down significantly, to 33 GPH, and range jumps up over 100 miles, to 1130 NM. The useful load is just under 1400 pounds with full tanks (320 gallons).
Still, for pilots new to turbines, a rugged non-pressurized Kodiak—with a 49 by 49 inch cargo door—is usually a good fit. It has familiar Garmin G1000 avionics, a 48.5-inch wide by 50-inch tall cabin and a safety- enhancing stall-proof wing with a discontinuous leading edge. Pull the power lever back to zero thrust, haul back on the yoke and the outboard section of the wing doesn’t stall. That means full aileron control and no change in roll rate in a stall. Stall speed with the single-slotted Fowler flaps up is 77 knots and 60 knots with the flaps down. The Kodiak Series II has a 16-gallon deice fluid tank for 2.5 hours of continuous operation in normal icing conditions, and it’s approved for flight into known icing. Short-field performance is what a Kodiak is all about, with a 934-foot takeoff ground run, with a touch over 1300 FPM in the climb. The earliest Kodiaks are called legacy models because there really isn’t much conformity amongst the group, though many have been upgraded at this point. Many improvements to the Kodiak 100 came with the Series II block change in 2018, including a more refined executive interior with more sound damping and the Garmin G1000 NXi. It also got new paint schemes and optional larger 29-inch tires that raised the max takeoff and landing weights.
Brown said that a Kodiak is often a stepping-stone turbine for the entry-level buyer, with many moving up in four years or sooner. Insurance costs might be lower than other models particularly because it isn’t pressurized, plus it has fixed landing gear.
It’s easy to compare the Kodiak with a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, which has fixed gear and a 160-knot cruise speed when equipped with a cargo pod. In the Caravan, plan on a 60-GPH fuel burn down low. Prices for Caravans are all over the board—from $700,000 to nearly $2 million for later models. For a terrific Kodiak model line resource, visit 11 Aviation on YouTube.
Partner with the pros
The rule of thumb when it comes to the high stakes world of purchasing used turboprops goes beyond thorough inspections. The best airplanes are ones that have all major service bulletins, mods and upgrades, plus have been professionally flown and maintained. And experience matters when it comes to choosing a dealer. It should be highly experienced with a given model and able to help with maintenance, hangars and transition training. And, it should be honest in advising when you’re getting in over your head—both financially and from a skills standpoint. These folks know what it takes.
Kodiak pro Mark Brown pointed out that while some buyers can afford to purchase a turboprop, they need to ask themselves if they can afford to own it. Don Peterson at JetSwiss called it straight when it comes to safely making the transition: “Stick a crowbar in the middle of your wallet and pull it hard.”
