PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Extra 500 - why so rare?
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Old 23rd Jun 2010, 10:23
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IO540
 
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I saw one parked at Losinj LDLO the other day.

I think they have made only a few of them so far.

Yes it looks a very nice plane - much more economical than most other turboprops. They tried very hard to sell me one at Friedrichshafen 2010. I do think it really has a lot of potential, as a step-up for piston pilots who do not have the 10x higher funding, not to mention the vastly different mission profile to even make use of such a machine, to get a TBM or similar.

Perhaps people are worried about the company's financial stability. It went bust recently, and god knows who is backing it now. If it is a bunch of vulture capitalists, you need to watch out. Just look at the Diamond/Thielert fiasco, and the utter fiasco of the Eclipse. You can run an Extra 300 (a simple plane) if the company goes, but you will have a lot of fun running a 500 without a parts and certification backup.
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