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: s Fighter 58 HIGH HOPES HOPES HIGH p. FICTION FICTION FACT OR VTOL Ferocious Ferocious To Infinity To FOCUS e SPECIAL SPECIAL SPACEPORT AMERICA’S AMERICA’S SPACEPORT and Beyond aopa.org/pilot | October 2019 | $10.95 | Octoberaopa.org/pilot 2019 FLYING THE CURTISS P–40 CURTISS THE FLYING 83 p. On Ice On AVOIDING AN IN-FLIGHT MENACE MENACE IN-FLIGHT AN AVOIDING The Voice of General Aviation of General Voice The p. T-10 p.

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ADS-B AND OLDER JETS JETS OLDER AND ADS-B SINGLE-ENGINE SINGLE-ENGINE COMES TO A A TO COMES AUTOTHROTTLE

TBM 940 Power Play Power Boneyard Bound? Boneyard TURBINE

October 2019 TBM 940 | P–40 Warhawk | Spaceport America | ADS-B and Older Jets aopa.org 1910p_Cover_turbine.indd 1 | TURBINE PILOT | At last, autothrottle

BY THOMAS A. HORNE

The ultimate personal turboprop gets big-jet automation

YOU EXPECT TO SEE gracing the cockpits of high-end turbo- fans, but a single-engine turboprop? Never. Well, don’t look now, because there’s a new TBM on the market—the TBM 940. And yes, it has an auto- system. Which means it’s broken the mold and thrown down a challenge to other single-engine turboprop manufacturers. Will they rise to the challenge? We’ll have to wait and see.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS ROSE

T-10 | AOPA PILOT October 2019 aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | T-11 NEW SEATS with trimmer profiles (left) mark the 900-series TBMs. The TBM 940 comes with Garmin’s G3000 suite (below). The Goodrich automatic ice protection sys- tem uses a vibrating probe on the verti- cal (right) to detect the onset of icing. A change in vibration frequency signals the system to inflate the deice boots.

What’s more, the TBM 940 has a new, by preventing stalls, over- and underspeeds, automatic ice-protection system. This uses or excessive bank angles. Allow airspeed to Bank past 45 an industry-standard Goodrich ice detection rise near redline and the Garmin probe mounted on the . will automatically trim the airplane nose- degrees, and roll The probe vibrates at a high frequency; up; allow it to drift near country and it servos bring you when ice accretes on the probe the change will trim nose-down. Bank past 45 degrees, in this frequency triggers the ice protec- and roll servos bring you upright. Fight the upright. Fight the tion system into action, causing a message corrective inputs and the servos will fight corrective inputs on the Crew Alerting System (CAS) and back. To prevent accidents from hypoxia- and the servos will inflating the airplane’s boots on a repeating induced incapacitation, upon sensing a cycle. No pilot action is necessary, although cabin altitude above 11,500 feet, the air- fight back. there’s also a way of manually running the plane’s Emergency Mode (EDM) ice protection components. It’s another kicks in—the airplane turns 90 degrees, transport-category equipment item that’s squawks 7700, and descends to 15,000 feet. a first among general aviation . In case you were too task-loaded or The latest TBM 910s and 940s also inattentive, a comprehensive voice alert and you somehow missed the verbal warn- retain what TBM calls its “e-Copilot” to the system—gone are the old warning beeps ing, an angle-of-attack sensor drives a stick standard equipment package, which began and horns—sounds off to get your atten- shaker that physically vibrates the control with 2017’s TBM 910 and 930 and contin- tion: “use oxygen mask” if cabin altitude column. Now that’s hard to miss. ues in today’s 910 and 940 models (which is above 10,000 feet, “ gear” if the Taken together, this is an impressive replace the former TBM 900 and 930). gear is up and either the power is at idle or cohort of safety-enhancement and work- The e-Copilot has several functions that flaps are extended, and “stall, stall” if air- load-reduction equipment. Together with keep the airplane with its design envelope speed gets too slow. If a stall is imminent the G3000 avionics suite (in the TBM 940;

T-12 | AOPA PILOT October 2019 aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | T-13 TBM 910s now have Garmin G1000NXi avi- to the 940’s fuel control unit. These com- Airplane Business Unit. The airplane had for example—are presented in smaller, normal/recommended , long-range onics), FlightStream 510 Wi-Fi/Bluetooth mands, in turn, increase or decrease power just arrived from the factory in Tarbes, thumbnail views nearby. cruise, or a user-selected cruise speed. We tablet information exchange connectiv- to meet a selected airspeed. France, still bearing its French registration Pre- checks complete, it’s time picked maximum cruise. And just like that, Just like that, the ity, ADS-B In and Out, FIS-B capability, There are ways to activate and turn off letters, and on its way to EAA AirVenture in for lineup and takeoff—an autothrottle take- the autothrottle advanced power. This is autothrottle advanced and SurfaceWatch runway advisory call- the autothrottle, and other ways to select a Oshkosh. For the time being, it was based out off. The first step is to arm the command one more advantage of autothrottle fly- outs and depictions, you probably have desired airspeed. You can turn it on by press- of the TBM distribution and service center bars by pressing the GA button, followed by ing. There’s no flipping through the pilot’s power. There’s no one of the most feature-rich panels on ing the AT button on the glareshield control at the Pompano Beach Airpark in Florida. pressing the NAV button on the glareshield operating handbook to find the right torque flipping through the the general aviation market today. There’s panel or, when making a missed approach/ After engine start, we taxied to controller, then putting the speed knob in setting for the temperature and pressure pilot’s operating also a new, Mid-Continent MD302, two- go-around, pressing the go-around (GA) but- Pompano’s Runway 15. It’s worth men- the FMS position (we’d selected a VY—124 altitude at hand. The autothrottle takes screen attitude/airspeed/altitude/heading ton at the side of the power lever. You can turn tioning that the TBM’s start procedure is knot— speed in the climb profile ear- care of power management no matter what handbook to find the backup display, powered by its own battery it off by pressing the power lever’s AT DISC about as automated as it can get without lier). Then press the AT button. cruise setting you select. For the record, our right torque setting pack and magnetometer. Having the latter button, or the red, -mounted autopilot- being FADEC-equipped. After engaging the Get on the brakes, push the power lever maximum cruise speed turned out to be 320 for the temperature allowed Daher to eliminate the old-school, trim disconnect (AP/TRIM DISC) button. start switch, you wait for an NG (gas gen- up to 70 percent torque (now the torquemeter KTAS, burning 58 gph. With our 255 or so glareshield-mounted magnetic . You can select an airspeed using the SPD erator) speed of 13 percent, then move the is prominent on the MFD), and the autothrot- gallons of fuel remaining on board we could and pressure altitude knob, also on the glareshield panel. To call up power lever forward to the Low Idle posi- tle wakes up, taking power to 100 percent have flown from Pompano Beach to, say, AUTOTHROTTLE BRIEFING a set of pre-programmed airspeeds for climb, tion. Light-off comes next, followed by a rise torque. After brake release, steer down the Oshkosh—in no-wind conditions. at hand. Let’s get this out of the way up front: Both cruise or descent, rotate the knob’s inner col- in interstage turbine temperature (ITT). centerline, wait for 90 knots, and rotate into With the heat of the day, a line of build- the TBM 910 and TBM 940 have e-Copilot lar to the FMS () After NG reaches the 50 percent mark the an aggressive climb to your selected altitude ups came between us and Florida’s east (Garmin’s Electronic Stability and under- position. Now you can use the Garmin GTC cuts out and the generator automat- while following the flight-planned route. coast. We’d have to fly through some of the speed Protection [ESP], plus EDM), stick 580 touchscreen controllers on the subpanel ically comes on line. A new depiction on That day, we flew out to the Everglades. tamer ones to fly back to Pompano Beach, so shaker, and automatic ice protection. Only to select the speed regimes you want. the MFD prioritizes the engine gauge dis- For an enroute climb, the speed knob was put a speed reduction was in order. In order to the TBM 940 comes with an autothrottle. To select an airspeed manually, move play based on first limit identification. This in manual mode and we dialed in a 170-knot ride the bumps safely, we used manual speed THE 940’S SINGLE POWER LEVER (far left) Autothrottles adjust engine power to the inner collar until it points to the MAN feature presents a single gauge—not the ver- climb and then pressed the flight level change control to slow the airplane to 160 knots. combines the functions of man- produce a selected airspeed. In the TBM (manual) position, then rotate the central tical array of multiple gauges—based on the (FLC) button to activate it. Within 14 minutes You can leave FMS mode at any time and go agement and condition lever through an 940, inputs from a variety of sources— knob until you see the airspeed you want most critical information needed for a given we were leveling off at FL280 on autopilot, to MAN autothrottle speed selection (and H-patterned gate. Center photo shows the author (left) and Nicolas Chabbert, senior such as current airspeed, , at the top of the airspeed tape on the PFD. phase of operation. So, during the start the even in Florida’s above-standard conditions. back again) for just such eventualities. Just vice president of Daher’s Business Unit (right), on approach to the Pompano throttle position, engine power output, NG gauge appears first, and then is replaced For a cruise demonstration, the SPD remember to select flight level change (FLC) density altitude, aircraft configuration, and AUTOTHROTTLE FLYING by the ITT gauge as light-off begins. The knob was put into FMS mode and we to capture a manually selected airspeed. Beach Airpark. Push the Auto switchlight (right) and ice protection is automatic. more—are fed into software that in turn I flew one of the first TBM 940s with Nicolas result is less clutter, while the other gauges’ called up the cruise page on the GTC Our airplane had the optional Garmin Push it again to manually activate the crunches algorithms that send commands Chabbert, senior vice president of Daher’s information—torque and speed, 580. There’s a choice—maximum cruise, GWX70 weather radar, with turbulence deice boots.

T-14 | AOPA PILOT October 2019 aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | T-15 detection. XM and FIS-B datalink weather radar imagery is nice—and available as standard equipment. But having the GWX meant we could see cell shapes, extent, and development in real time—plus you can overlay the radar on the MFD moving map display for better situational awareness. This meant we could weave our way to an approach back to Pompano Beach, confi- dent that we had a safe way of maneuvering in cloud during our descent. While hand-flying without autothrot- tle during our passage through a clear area, Chabbert asked me to nose the air- plane up into a stall. Up went the nose, and down went the airspeed. Passing through 95 knots, the autothrottle added power to preserve airspeed. It was a demonstration of how the autothrottle works in the back- ground, waiting to prevent any airspeed excursions. And get this: The 940’s auto- throttle honors airspeed limitations for and extension. Try to fly so fast that you are on the way to exceeding those limits, and the autothrottle will auto- matically dial back the power. On autopilot and autothrottle, before intercepting the final approach course to Pompano Beach’s RNAV GPS Runway 15 we manually set and FLC-enabled a speed reduc- tion to 170 knots and went to approach flaps. At the final approach fix, we lowered the gear, SPEC SHEET went to 110, then 85 knots and selected land- Daher TBM 940 ing flaps. Down we went, punching off all the automation at minimums and landing. PRICE: $4,133,000 There was some pattern work after that, and on one approach a look at an auto- SPECIFICATIONS Landing distance | 2,430 ft throttle go-around. Hand-flying or not, if Powerplant | Pratt & Whitney Canada Max range with one pilot and w/45-min you press the power lever’s GA button the PT6A-66D, 850 shp reserve @31,000 ft: command bars rise to a climb attitude, the Length | 35.22 ft @252 KTAS | 1,730 nm autothrottle spools up to takeoff power, and Height | 14.29 ft @290 KTAS | 1,585 nm up you go. Flaps approach, gear up, flaps up, Wingspan | 42.1 ft @326 KTAS | 1,440 nm press NAV for missed approach guidance, Wing loading | 38.2 lb/sq ft dial in 124 knots in Manual mode, and you’re Power loading | 8.7 lb/shp LIMITING AND RECOMMENDED AIRSPEEDS Seats | V (best angle of climb) | now doing a good 2,000 fpm to your missed 6 x 100 KIAS Basic empty weight | V (best rate of climb) | approach altitude—which was set in the alti- 4,629 lb Y 124 KIAS Max ramp weight | V (design maneuvering) | tude selector before the descent. 7,430 lb A 160 KIAS Max takeoff weight | V (max operating speed) | TBMs are fast, and it can be easy to get 7,394 lb MO 266 KIAS Max payload | V (stall, in landing configuration) | behind the airplane during distractions or 1,403 lb SO when workload is high. The autothrottle Max payload w/full fuel | 891 lb 65 KIAS makes sure that you fly target speeds effi- Fuel capacity | 291 gal (1,950 lb) ciently, and without jockeying for the correct Max luggage w/6 seats | 330 lb All specifications are based on manufac- torque values. Together with its autopilot and turer’s calculations. All performance figures e-Copilot, it has all the safety features you’d PERFORMANCE are based on standard day, standard atmo- expect of such a great performer. Step-up Takeoff distance | 2,380 ft sphere, maximum weight conditions unless pilots as well as old hands may be new to the Max cruise speed at long-range power | otherwise noted. idea of autothrottles, but once they log a cou- 252 KTAS ple hours they’ll be hooked. AOPA Max cruise speed, 28,000 ft | 330 KTAS Time to climb to 31,000 ft | 18 min 45 sec FOR MORE INFORMATION visit the EMAIL [email protected] Sea-level cabin | 14,390 ft manufacturer’s website: tbm.aero

T-16 | AOPA PILOT October 2019