Page 12 - Sept24T

Piper M700 Fury Demonstrator Airplane on the Ramp in Vero Beach, Florida
It has Ramp Presence
As I approached the M700 demo plane at Piper’s facility in Vero Beach, Florida, earlier this summer, I couldn’t help but think of two things: 1. “Wow, I can’t believe how hot it is already at 9 A.M. in South Florida” and 2. “Wow, this aircraft is VERY photogenic and loves the camera!” The ramp presence of the Fury is everything you would expect of a new high-performance plane, and it’s a testament to Piper’s commitment to both form and function.
The first thing that will catch your eye is the demo plane’s custom paint scheme: unique but classy dark or- ange and black paint with “FURY” proudly presented on the vertical tail. It’s one of those planes that looks fast sitting still but is compact enough to give a single-pilot owner-operator the confidence to manage this aircraft independently.
The next thing most pilots, such as myself, will notice is the long nose that holds in the PT6A-52 engine with a beautiful 5-blade Hartzell propeller. I didn’t recall the 5-blade prop on all of the previous M-Class Piper aircraft, and when I asked my pilot for the day, Piper’s Joel Glunt, about it, he
informed me that the 5-blade Hartzell was so popular as an upgrade on the M600 that they decided to make it a standard feature on the M700.
Lastly, I noticed the sleek wings. The leading edges have a booted de- ice system certified for Flight Into Known Icing (FIKI). After looking at the operating handbook, I confirmed that the wingspan is 43.2 feet, just a few feet too long to fit into a standard 40-foot T-hangar.
Joel performed a pre-f light inspec- tion, and before long, I was sweating in the Florida heat and was more than ready to climb in and test out the air conditioning. The cabin and cockpit have a single access door just behind the left wing. Airstair access brings you into the middle of the cabin’s two rows of seats.
The interior finishings on this demo plane were sharp and included two-tone leather seats, red stitched “Fury” headrests, and matching leath- er sidewalls. The rear-facing middle row has two separate seats rather than a bench, as the space between them is the aisle where you can ac- cess the cockpit.
The aft bench seats two passen- gers, and behind that bench, in the
tailcone, you will find the dedicated baggage space. In the middle of the cabin’s four seats, you will find a pull- out table and cupholders, along with an emergency exit on the window over the right wing. Both the exterior and interior are highly customizable, and they even have a feature on their website to let you design your dream plane. Of course, I had to try it out be- fore I went, and I created the perfect M700 to match my teal Cessna 182.
Moving forward into the cockpit is where you must practice what I call “Pilot Yoga.” It is no secret that the Piper M-Class aircraft have a small aisle to access the cockpit, and get- ting into the seat requires a bit of flexibility. However, once you sit in place, the cockpit is just as roomy as any other, and you get comfortable quickly – especially with the long- awaited air conditioning once you spool up the engine.
We Live for the Sound of a Turbine Engine Spool-Up
Someone once commented that they wished they had the sound of a turbine engine spooling up as their cellphone ringtone on a social media post purely dedicated to the roars of
10 • TWIN & TURBINE / September 2024