While twiddling my thumbs waiting for one of the VLJ manufacturers to produce a plane that is both reliable and available, I have been contemplating the existing single engine turbo prop market.  The main competitors are the Meredian by Piper, the TBM by Socata, and the PC12 by Pilatus.  Each plane is known by signature characteristics.  In the case of the PC12, it is the SUV of the skies hauling more payload farther than any aircraft short of business jets in the tens of millions.  The new TBM850 is the race car of the group offering close to 320 kt speed with excellent payload and range.  The Meridian is the price leader of the bunch, has the shortest full fuel range at 1000nm with reserves, and is marginally faster than the PC12 at 260-270 knots.  Full fuel payload is 540 pounds which is acceptable, but lower than the other two.  All three planes now have a full glass cockpit, with the PC12 now offering Honeywell, Garmin for TBM, and Avidyne for the Meridian.  The PC12, TBM850, and Meridian feature P&W engines derated for longevity and thermal concerns to 1200, 850, and 500 HP respectively with associated and correspondingly lower fuel burns.  Now for the breath removing component-a PC12 costs almost 4 million new and for the privilege you can wait until 2011 for the order backlog.  The used market has a few available, but the resale market for PC12s is so vibrant you could expect to pay in some cases more than the original list price to get one. The TBM 850 costs almost 3 million and once again you can wait in line for the privilege of getting one of the new glass panel editions.  The Meridian is just short of 2 million and is immediately available from dealers.  Since the Avidyne glass was implemented in 2006, many late model already depreciated examples are available on the resale market as well.

I decided to call up my local Piper dealer to arrange a demo flight and chose to demo a 2006 model with 400 hours.  Identical in every way to the brand new ones this 2006 seemed like a reasonable alternative to buying new given the 400K reduction in price.   

Starting with the preflight items, the first notable item is the design of the air intake for the PT6.  Without going through nauseating detail, unlike other PT6 installations, the Meridian constantly filters debris and does not require a separate take off and landing configuration for the air intake to deal with potential bird strikes or other FOD.   For what it is worth, the Meridian is a very aesthetically pleasing symmetrical plane lacking in bulbous protuberances that characterize planes like the PC12, which looks to me like a wild boar in full attack mode. 

I was pleased to see that the horizontal stabilizer and rudder have been significantly beefed up from the Piper Mirage which is one argument made in favor of the Meridian over the Mirage Jetprop conversion.  The Meridian was spin tested over 650 times during certification and offers a great deal of rudder authority.    

The Cabin door opens in two pieces with the lower half serving as the stairs.  At 6’4” one of my major concerns with the Meridian was accessibility and cabin comfort.  I found entering and exiting the cabin to be perfectly manageable and no difficulty even when considering loading luggage since the luggage space is behind the seats in the back.  The cabin area is arranged with club seating which was adequately comfortable.  It appeared to me that with careful placement four guys my size could all completely extend their legs.   The seats directly behind the pilot and co pilot are not quite as wide as the aft most seats since a narrow passageway to the cockpit is required.  I will not say that squeezing into the cockpit is not a gymnastic maneuver since it is, but once in the seat I found it to be reasonably comfortable.  Over the last few months I have been flying quite a number of hours in several different Citation models.  My analysis is that entry to the Meridian cockpit is both easier and more comfortable once there than any of the Citations I have flown.  The one exception to this is the Citation Mustang which has no console FMS and has a gloriously uncluttered cockpit, but this model falls under the VLJ category of unavailable since delivery slots are now out to 2011.  The only potential concern I found was the placement of the yoke since it hit my knees during aggressive maneuvering, but so do all of the Citations I have flown.

Once in the Meridian cockpit it felt very familiar since it shares the same Avidyne PFD and MFD configuration of my current primary plane a Cirrus SR22 Turbo.  The Meridian adds a copilot side PFD and other turbine related instrumentation and controls, but overall feels very similar to my Cirrus.  Startup is accomplished with little other than pressing on the ignition, starter and start buttons.  Engine monitoring is slightly different since you monitor torque and ITT instead of N1 and N2 for turbofans, but the reality is that the PT6 is derated to less than half of its thermodynamic horsepower capability and even in the event of an inadvertent over torque all the way to the governor, the engine is still well within its limits.  Taxiing the Meridian took some getting used to mostly since it is controlled with the engine using the Beta function instead of brakes.   Beta changes the pitch of the blades and allows the pilot to control ground speed.  It also has a reverse function, but is POH limited to 60 kts on the ground.  Beta mode is engaged simply by moving the thrust lever backwards past a detent.  An additional detent is required to enter reverse mode.  A sophisticated squat system locks out the Beta and Reverse modes in flight and only reengages when the gear is compressed on landing.    With two pilots, full fuel, and 10 degrees of flaps I gently pulled back on the elevator and the Meridian jumped off the runway around 80 knots.  Staying off the brakes was a bit of a challenge at first since my big feet had to be halfway off the rudders to not touch the brakes.  Once airborne, the plane trimmed easily and once cleaned up began a 2000 ft per minute climb rate with IAS never decreasing below 140kts.  A notable feature of the Meridian gear is that the gear are not only hydraulically actuated, but once retracted depend on the hydraulics to remain stowed.  If the hydraulics are inoperative the gear simply falls down.  A great feature in my opinion since there will never be any blowing or cranking to get faulty gear down.  While hand flying through 14K ft I spent some time maneuvering and must say the plane handled beautifully.  The controls were solid and unencumbered with immediate response to inputs.   50 degree steep turns felt very stable as did all other elements of flight.  The first notch of flaps comes down at 168IAS and with gear down and idle power emergency descents are precipitous but feel very controlled.  This maneuver highlights my only real issue with the Meridian and that is redline.   Unlike a piston, the Meridian will blast through redline in every phase of flight without proper management.  VMO (Max Operating Airspeed similar to VNE in a piston) is 188kts and requires power be quickly removed in descents. 

The Meggit 1500 digital autopilot immediately responds to heading inputs without using a rate based equation as its predecessor the STEC 55X.  It also features a constant airspeed mode which is tremendously helpful not only in managing the aforementioned low VNE, but also in busy airspace where speeds are assigned.  My flight ended around 15K ft, and TAS was around 230 kts at 75% torque.  Extrapolation of TAS to 25k ft shows this plane would easily obtain book airspeed numbers.   On the return, speeds in the pattern were very similar to most pistons.  Short final at 90 kts and over the numbers around 80 resulted in a fair landing.  Using the Beta function, the plane seemed to stop incredibly fast.