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Jeff and his wife, Kellie, in the TBM 850
years, during the time in which he has owned more than a half dozen airplanes. TBMs and a single-pilot Citation headline Martin’s collection of aircraft. Presently, he owns a TBM 850, which he flies himself, and a Citation CJ1+, flown by a staff pilot—the auctioneering business tallies roughly 900 hours a year between the airframes.
“I am not typed in the Citation; we have a full- time corporate pilot. His job is to get our team to sites as quickly as possible. Often, we chase each other around the country – ironically, going between different auctions. We try to conduct three auctions weekly, loading everybody up and going. He flies the CJ, and I fly the TBM. We race to see who gets there first. If I get off the ground first, I beat him; if he gets off the ground first, he naturally beats me!”
Much like his foray into the auction business
(an industry his dad joined in 1973), Martin’s fam-
ily inspired his aviation journey. He explained
that his grandfather had a Cessna 150, and flying it “from the backyard on Sundays after church when the weather was good” ignited his interest in aviation.
“Then, in the early 90s, I decided that I wanted to fol- low my passion for aviation and learned to fly. I realized I could use it for business and bought my first airplane, a 1997 Mooney M20J. After a while, I sold it and bought a Beechcraft Baron 58TC. I flew it for a couple of years and started to use general aviation to spread our business. And in 2009, I formed my own auction company, starting
A panel shot of Martin’s TBM 850, which has a G1000 avionics system (upgraded to NXi)
Martin has a lot of good things to say about his fast single-engine turboprop. He summarized his feelings: “The TBM is just absolutely a phenomenal airplane. And I could be a very good spokesperson for them, as much as we fly the airplane!”
Elaborating, he provided further details about why he enjoys flying the TBM and how it compares to another turboprop option.
with one location in central Mississippi. Mississippi is not an airline-friendly part of the country, so we bought a Cessna 414.”
Following that aircraft, Martin moved between half a dozen pistons and turbines until he bought his first TBM, a 2003 700C2. He noted that the TBM replaced a Cirrus SR22T, which had an engine failure and subsequent chute pull. Fortunately, Martin was already considering moving to another aircraft before the incident. “We were spending an enormous time in the Cirrus, and I wanted to find something to go faster, but I wasn’t interested in multi-engine aircraft. My biggest considerations were speed, range, and service ceiling. I wanted all the speed that I could get and didn’t look at anything but the TBM, just based on the research I had done and what they are truly capable of doing.”
The 700C2 was not in the fleet long after an off-field incident. “The landing gear broke off the 700C2 in that incident, totaling the aircraft. So, we bought our 850 as a replacement in 2022. It has a little bit more speed and a little bit more fuel burn. We have the G1000 cockpit in it, which we upgraded to NXi – which is such a situational tool. We don’t have Wi-Fi in the aircraft, but we have a satellite phone, so we can always stay in touch with the office. It’s so much more capable of an aircraft than our former TBM.”
December 2023 / TWIN & TURBINE • 15