A flight in 'The FERRARI OF THE SKIES'!

Today I'm going to fly in the Ferrari of the skies, the TBM 700C. This 2003 turboprop is owned by one of my followers and it's a thing of beauty. I'm at Leon Solen Airfield in Hampshire, England and we're going to fly to Exeter to do an instrument approach. Let me introduce Michael, he's going to talk me through the start-up procedure and the checklist is a little longer than it is for my PA-28 Arrow. Because the aircraft is pressurized and can go high, it has to carry supplementary oxygen. The first thing we do is turn the oxygen on and that's going to produce a little hiss as it pressurizes these two masks in the back. They're good to go and the oxygen in the cabin is controlled manually but we've got no passengers today, so we'll just leave that off. Passenger oxygen is off, front oxygen masks are tested and the starter is off and the ignition is in auto. Flight control lock is out, parking brake reset is on, landing gear is down, banks and chocks are out. Exterior inspection I've done, battery is connected, seats, pedals and harnesses we've just arranged. So crash lever can go up, it's going to start powering the aeroplane up. Nav lights can go on, source can go to BAT, generator can go to main, ignition is in auto and the fuel selector can go to auto once it's connected to the inside of the tether. The lead is off and the air conditioning is off. You might want to just protect your ears. So the advisory panel will just make sure all these bulbs are working and all bulbs are working. So battery voltage is up here and we've got 25 volts, so let's go. Clear left, clear right, starter can go on. So the first thing we're looking for is oil pressure which is coming up quite quickly. No fuel in it yet, looking for 13 percent. Fuel in, that's got a light, you'll see this temperature go up like a rocket. 300, 400, 500 degrees, 600 degrees. That's what it peaked at, that's good. So now we're looking for the rotation of the outside fan, that's the fan connected to the prop, to be up to about 52 percent. Still being powered by the starter. I don't know about you but I just love the sound of a turbine engine starting up. The ever-increasing pitch, it's smooth, powerful, quite different from starting up a piston engine isn't it? Lee, good afternoon, it's November 278 Mike Tapper, CBM 7, outside hangar 15, requesting effort information for a trip down to Exeter and back to do some practice approaches. November 278 Mike Tapper, the information, good afternoon, we're runway 05, the left-hand circuit, the QNH 1028. Runway 05, left-hand circuit, QNH 1028, November 278 Mike Tapper. So brakes are off, taxi lights off. So since we've got a bit of a taxi run, I can ask you about your ownership of the aircraft, so it's a TBM 700. That's right. Why did you get a TBM 700, what was the reason for that? Well the main reason is because I've owned a number of aeroplanes before, starting with a Rockwell Commander 30-odd years ago. You like comfort then? I like it, I like a comfort, I like it to go a little bit quicker, so the retractable undercarriage variable pitch propeller was a great move forwards from the training aircraft, and then I had a twin because I thought well two engines better than one, and then a piston twin, you realise it's not quite as simple as that because sometimes two engines is not better than one. I was lucky enough to own a Citation jet for a while, which was super quick, great fun to fly, but of course it won't go into Perham Porth which is 700 metres long. So I really wanted an aeroplane that would do as many missions as possible, accepting the fact that some of the missions it doesn't do perfectly, but at least it does them. The TBM 700 C2 has got almost as good a performance as the modern TBMs, but obviously because you can buy down the second hand ladder it's a little over 20 percent of the capital as opposed to five million dollars for a new one, so it's sort of fitted the mission. So give me the numbers then in terms of engine, cruise. So the aeroplane is going to do about 270 knots at about 28,000 feet, and it's going to climb up to 28,000 feet at somewhere between 1,200 and 2,000 feet per minute. So it's not the fastest to 28,000 feet but certainly you'll get there in half an hour, and then once you're up there you're going to be burning, depends how you set the throttle. So engines are more expensive than fuel, so if you're not fuel limited you're likely to go as fast as you can, but if you're trying to eke out the range then you can bring the power right back and get something like 45 gallons an hour of jet fuel, so it's a bit cheaper than half gas. Or if you're going to be going for it you'll be around 55-56 gallons an hour, and that's what you're going to be using. So you know you could make Leon Solent to Palma de Mallorca in around about three hours, maybe three hours 15 depending on which way the wind is blowing. And then in terms of range, so ideally your range is going to be around about 1,200 nautical miles depending on where your alternate is. So the furthest I think I've flown from Leon Solent is Faro, which is the bottom of Portugal, because you're good for an alternate there, but if you're going to be flying from Iceland to Greenland then you're going to bring that back in because there aren't many diverts in Greenland. Of course the other thing is as you're getting on a bit, it's how long can you go without a wee. What you don't have a toilet on board? Well I have a heewee sheewee, but the mere threat of a heewee sheewee somehow seems to mean you don't need to go. N278MP, Bravo 2 fully ready for departure. N278MP, runway 05 taking discretion service wind 070 degrees 14 knots. Take on my discretion 05, N278MP. So we're going to line up and we're going to bring the prop up to about 1,800 rpm, press this prop test button, make sure that the prop dips and then we'll put full power and depart. So because of Lee's circuit this is quite an early left turn with the solar panels, over the solar panels. Okay so 60 knots, 70 knots, 80 knots, 85, rotate. Runway 05, N278MP, take discretion service wind 070 degrees 14 knots. Okay flaps, that was 1,000 to go to 1,800. So the autopilot is levelling us off at 1,800. I'm going to leave the inertial separator on because we're probably going to go through some cloud on the way up. So we'll just wait until we intercept this course and then we'll pop that on. Sounds good. Let it take us down. Let's just have a quick look after takeoff checks, landing gear's definitely up, the oil amperes on the flaps are definitely up, roll mode is selected, DI6 system is as required, cabin altitude, yeah we're just pressurising a little bit, taxi lights off, now we can go on to down. Adelaide, N278MP, just passing Calshot, we'd like to change frequency to Bournemouth on 119.480. Michael offered to take me for a flight for a number of reasons. He knew that my aircraft was going in for some extended maintenance and he knew that I'd desperately want a flying fix at some point. He also wanted to show me what a modern avionics suite could do. He recently spent a lot of money upgrading his panel. I'm a long way from being able to afford an aircraft like the TBM 700 but I'm curious to know what you have to do as a private pilot with a single engine piston rating to be able to fly one. What is the route for a private pilot, you're a private pilot are you? Yes. So what's the route for a private pilot to get a turbine? The TBM was designed for people going up from piston engine to gas turbine so it's designed to fly in the same way as a PA28, it's just a bit quicker and to help you with that sophistication, all this does that for you. But you need to do a course, there is a specific TBM set that you've got to pass and that's for me it was two days of ground school and about 10 hours of tuition. But the other thing which helps enormously for new pilots or new to a type is to find a friend that can already do it because you will learn more in the first 10-20 hours of flying with somebody than you can in the course. There's nothing like having somebody who's done it before to sit next to you and say actually if you do it like this it's much easier. Exeter Approach, good afternoon it's N278MP. N278MP, Exeter radar identified a traffic service, it's information hotel QNH1026, runway 08 in use. N278MP, have information hotel QNH1026, it's a traffic service. N278MP, just confirm you're looking for the RMP for runway 08 via OPBOT. That's confirmed N278MP. N278MP, roger, left turn own navigation towards OPBOT for the RMP. Left turn own navigation to OPBOT for the RMP, N278MP. So what we do is we'll just pop it on heading, making sure we're lined up and we go to the approach and we will activate the approach and that's giving me a left turn which is exactly what I expect. N278MP, when ready descend flight level 50 and just confirm your intentions off the RMP. When ready descend flight level 50 and our intention would be to do a go around and then depart back to Lyonsal and N278MP. Roger and what level do you require on route? Flight level 70 be fine, N278MP. N278MP, roger then after the missed approach own navigation to the east and climbing initially flight level 60. After the missed approach own navigation to the east, climbing initially flight level 60, N278MP. Are you all right John? Are you getting something out of it? Yes, it's all good, it's all good, yeah. I'm just shutting up when I need to. It's funny because being with you... You're not as chatty as you are on the videos. When someone else is flying I want to give them a bit of respect. Okay, so we need the inertial separator before we go into this cloud. We can do that before we get to 200 knots so we're going to put the inertial separator in now. That takes about 25 seconds to come down. This is going to be fun because we're definitely picking up a little bit of ice on the screen. Oh yeah. The place you see it most obviously is on the radar dome. Oh yeah, it's on the... So in the books it says any sign of ice you should put all the anti-ice on. So that's what we've done. N78MP, descend altitude 3,400 feet, QNH 1026. 3,400 feet on a QNH of 1026, N278MP. This episode is made possible thanks to AOPA UK, the independent organisation representing the interests of aircraft owners and pilots. But what have they done for their members this last month? AOPA recently met with the Chief Medical Officer at the UKCAA to raise concerns about changes to pilot medicals. You may have heard that pilots of a certain age, like me, have been made to undergo stress ECG tests because of an NHS formula that theoretically calculates that they're at greater risk of a heart event. AOPA pointed out that there have been very few heart-related medical events in flight by pilots over the last 20 years, none of which has resulted in death or injury to anyone on the ground. AOPA's Martin Robinson has urged the CAA to review its policy so that it is more proportionate and based on evidence. Join AOPA today so that it can continue this important work protecting our freedom to fly. Flying Reporter followers can use my dedicated link to get 25% off new one or two year memberships. N8MP, you're clear for the RMP runway 08 via OTPOT, report final approach truck established. Cleared for the RMP approach for runway 08 via OTPOT and report established N278MP. That's just the flying job. That's great isn't it? It's great fun, isn't it? I'd do it every day if I could. So would I. So in a moment, in fact around about now, I'm going to press approach. That's going to arm it. It's going to arm it. 077 is the inbound, 077 is what it's got set. And N278MP established. N278MP, thanks, continue approach contact to tower 119.805. Continue approach on to tower 119.805, N278MP, thanks. Tower, hello, N278MP is with you, established, just approaching Tango Echo 08, Foxtrot. N278MP, exit tower, continue approach, runway inspection approved. Will go, N278MP. Nice just to be a passenger sometimes, you know, just enjoy it without all the workload. OK, so we're approaching the top of descent, so we'll pop one stage of flap in. And when we get to a quarter scale deflection above, then we'll put the gear down, which we'll call now. Synthetic vision is telling us where the runway is, which is good news, it's straight ahead. N278MP, runway 08, surface wind 060, 10, cleared low approach. Cleared low approach, N278MP. So minimums on this approach, 480 feet. And your approach speed, is this what we're on? It's slowly going to come back to about 90, 95. So if we were to land, we'd really want to be landing at about 85 knots as we come over the numbers. But the rule of thumb is that we'd really want 28% of power, got a little bit of what, 2% more. But being a purist, if you had 28% on there, it would give you the right speed. But I mean, this all comes from practice, knowing your own aeroplane and so on and so on. So it looks like we've got a headwind of about 10 knots, slightly off to the right. It's exactly what was forecast. So landing checklist, the inertial separator is on, flaps are fully deployed. We've got three greens, the prop is fully forwards, and the fuel is balanced, everything's looking good. So just approaching three miles, three miles, the chart says we should be at 1100 feet. Three miles, 1140 feet. Quite a low deck angle, isn't it? Pinch down. Yep, yeah, it is with the full flap. They are very big flaps, that's designed to bring the landing speed really into PA28 territory. Yeah. 580, 100 to go. 92 knots, all looking good. Minimum, go round. Positive rate, gear up. Flaps up. And N278MP going round. N278MP, roger, contact Extra Radar 128.980. 128.980 for Extra Radar, N278MP. Radar, hello again, it's N278MP, just climbing out through 1600 feet. N278MP, Extra Radar, identify traffic service. Traffic service, N278MP. It's so quiet and smooth. Yeah, the go round, there's no distinguishable change. No, it's fantastic. It's a lovely aeroplane. After our missed approach, Michael flew us back to Leon Solent, past the Needles and the Isle of Wight. It was very generous of him to take me out for this short trip. I hope you enjoyed riding along with us too. The TBM 700 is clearly a very fast and capable machine and I'm very jealous. I'll be getting my new Arrow back soon though from the avionics workshop. Any day now, in fact, it should be back with me. So looking forward to sharing more adventures with you in India Victor. If you like my content, please do subscribe to the channel. It costs you nothing and it really does help with my reach. If you don't subscribe, at least hit the like button to show your appreciation. Wow, that's no braking. That's just reverse. Just reverse. That's cool, isn't it? That's where we'll leave today's episode. Thanks for watching. Fly safely, my friends. Oh, thank you for that. That was really, really good. Oh, I hope you enjoyed it. I enjoyed it. Yeah.