Bob and Rachel Anderson in front of their TBM, right after they purchased it
Bob and Rachel Anderson have owned a 2008 Daher TBM 850 for five years. The flexibility of the PT6A-66D-powered six-seater has allowed them to be more present with their family.
Bob and Rachel fly this aircraft, sometimes together and others separately. Bob learned to fly when stationed in Germany while in the Army. He flew for several years, but the demands of a burgeoning medical career sidelined him from the cockpit for some time. Rachel explained that a family trip about ten years ago prompted his return to the skies.
“We bought some property in Gulf Shores, Alabama, as a rental and drove there several times. We got stuck in traffic once on the way back (to Lake Charles, Louisiana), and it took us 13 hours to get home. During the drive, my husband casually mentioned, ‘Oh, you know, I’ve got a private pilot’s license.’ That was after we had been married 13 years!”
The couple began considering buying a plane because of the inconvenience they experienced during this trip. After all, Bob could fly it. Although he had been out of the cockpit for some time, he was ready to knock the rust off and soon purchased a 2014 Cessna 206T.
“He went to get his medical and had to wait because he had gotten a stent a few years prior. And we were already getting this plane. So, he’s like, ‘Well, why don’t you try to get your license, Rachel? I mean, you should learn how to land it anyway.’ That’s how it started. And I did not like it. It took me about 17 hours before I decided I actually liked flying,” she recalled.
Rachel and Bob began flying together shortly after she earned her PPL in 2016.
“Ironically, my medical came in the same week that Rachel got her license. When she got into the TBM, Rachel had around 375 hours. So, she needed 50 mentor hours on top of transition training. We were probably the only aircraft owners in America whose insurance dropped by $15,000 in the first couple of years
[of ownership] as Rachel flew more,” Bob said.
Bob has logged roughly 2,000 hours in the TBM (2,600 hours total), and about 70 percent of Rachel’s 1,000 hours have been spent in the single-engine turboprop.
“I fly probably twice as much as Rachel. When we get to fly together, we are a good team, and I usually let her fly. For example, if we go to Mexico, I’ll do all the paperwork, and she will fly.”
The couple frequents several other destinations, including popular resort enclaves in Mexico. The TBM 850 displays an attractive mix of speed, range, and economics for the Andersons’ typical missions.
to Mobile, Alabama to visit her trainer.
“Bob was flying the plane a lot, all over the country with my son, who was a junior golfer. He golfs in college now, and our mission has evolved a little. We often go to Denver because my daughter is in law school there. We also go to Vail and then Houston every Saturday because my son takes acting lessons there. Many of our flights are short 45-minute to an-hour hops, which otherwise would be a three- or five-hour drive. We’ve also discovered that flying ourselves to Cabo and Cancun is really convenient, and we have done that many times in the past two years. It’s about a two-hour flight to Cancun and about three and a half hours to Cabo,” Rachel began.
“On a longer trip like that [to and from Cabo San Lucas International Airport (MMSL), we normally fly at 31,000 feet. This past trip was the first time we’ve had to stop for fuel, which would cut it close with the headwinds. Our true airspeed typically is about 300 to 305 knots, with a fuel burn of around 50 to 55 gallons. It will reach about 312 to 315 knots when lower at 28,000 feet, though.”
Bob said he spent a lot of time researching cabin-class options once he decided to move up from their Turbo Stationair. He considered several turboprop options, as well as jets.
“I did a lot of research during the course of about a year. I was looking at the Phenom 100, the Eclipse Jet, and then the Pilatus PC-12 and the Piper Meridian. It was pretty easy [to decide], and to this day, I am sure it was the right decision.”
Bob continued, “The Phenom 100 just doesn’t have the useful load, and we can’t go as far [as we do in the TBM]. It’s not really a step up to me, but it’s a lot more expensive. Then, it was the same thing with the Eclipse. We go to Vail quite a bit, especially during the summer. The Eclipse won’t make it consistently without stopping. So that was an issue. I felt that the Piper pipeline was still improving, and we thought about the PC-12 a lot. At the time, we had four kids at home and really debated about getting a Pilatus instead. We talked to a lot of people, and they said that we really weren’t going to need the extra seats very often – which is true. The upfront cost of the plane was higher, too, compared to the TBM we got.”
All of their research helped level expectations for their aircraft purchase. With more than 2,000 hours of TBM operations, the couple agrees it’s the best plane for their mission.
“What I like most about the aircraft is that even on warm days, in the mountains, with a full load, you check [the loading] and can fly – no problem. The TBM 850 is overpowered, and it does exactly what we need it to do. Six people can each have a bag, and we can get to where we need to go without usually ever having to stop for fuel,” Rachel stated.
Bob agreed, adding, “I would say [what I like the most] is the TBM’s speed and efficiency. What would we want out of another plane? Faster, more seats and the ability to go higher would be great. But it’s hard to find that combination. And I’m not interested in getting a jet rating, where the costs would increase dramatically.”
Insurance and maintenance requirements, of course, are two of the key cost drivers in turboprop ownership. As a TBMOPA member, Bob said that the organization is a great resource for those considering the aircraft, including estimated operating costs for the various models in the TBM family. It is also an all-inclusive source for current owners.
“I think one negative about the plane, though, is, I would say, insurance cost. There are a lot of prop strikes within the TBM family because the propeller is only eight inches off the ground. And in some years, the maintenance costs have been kind of high, although we’ve had a bit of bad luck. We’ve had two partial depressurizations where things failed that normally wouldn’t fail. We’ve also had some major flap issues that took a good while to figure out. However, the rest has been normal – maintenance-wise. It’s just that we fly a lot, so the maintenance seems high. We’re putting 400 to 500 hours on the plane every year. So even though I whine about the size of the checks, we’re doing it pretty cheaply when you break it down by the hour.”
