a category titled " Light Prop planes" shouldn't include aircraft that can ascend to 25,000 and have a max speed twice the average of a Cessna
Well NAROBS, "Light Prop planes" was just my manner of description, not the official FAA designation. I used that descriptor to mean that the TBM is less than 12,500 lbs MGW, propeller driven (therefore requires no pilot type rating) and is certified under part 23.
The "official" certification of the TBM series airplane is in the "normal" category. To act as PIC, a pilot must hold a pilot certificate with "airplane" category and "single engine land" class ratings on that certificate. Additionally, a TBM PIC would be required to have endorsements in his logbook for complex, high performance and pressurized aircraft capable of higher than 25,000' as per FAR 61.31. These 61.31 endorsements are all "one time" and have no recurrency requirements attached. Additionally, all US airspace in the contiguous 48 states above 17,999' is class A, so an instrument clearance would be required to fly there. Instrument rating and currency requirements would then be required to be met as well. That's what the regulations require.
With that said, the insurance companies are another matter. That's where the specific "make and model" initial and recurrent training and operating experience requirements really come from.
I'll save my treatise on pressurization and O2 system preflight inspection/test for another time. Likewise for personal hypoxia symptom recognition and proper reaction to system malfunction during flight at higher altitudes.
westhawk