Originally Posted by
TurboPropFan
I believe the figure of 30% is the longer TBO of GE engine of the Denali (vs PT-6) and not the fuel burn. What is missed in comparison was the plentiful TBM's of variety of sizes, horse-powers,speed, and weight category. which are another family of working single engine Turbo Props.
I am not quite sure if these category of aircraft (S.E.Turbo Props) are allowed to operate as in Part-135 in USA and specially IFR at night as they maybe allowed in Europe, and would like to know for sure. If not, then their use will be limited to private and corporate owners only and not as charter service. Just curious. Thanks.
In Europe at least the new GE engine and the airframe combination will have to clock up a fair few hours to prove reliability before EASA would mandate approval for SET commercial ops. To an extent, the anticipated in-flight failiure rate can be extrapolated from the DNA of the engine core design, but that only goes so far. You definately won't be able to buy a new Denali off the production line and put it to work commercially in Europe from day one, might be several years later. Not sure about the FAA and US Part-135 ops, they might take a more accomodating view.