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was a junior golfer. He golfs in college now, and our mission has evolved a little. We often go to Denver be- cause 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 our- selves 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 re- searching cabin-class options once
Rachel and a friend on the ramp, following a shopping trip. She said the shopping was fun, as was “seeing the lineman’s faces!”
12 • TWIN & TURBINE / August 2024
he decided to move up from their Turbo Stationair. He considered sev- eral 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 wecan’tgoasfar[aswedointhe TBM]. It’s not really a step up to me,
A look at the TBM’s instrument panel