Daher says it is struggling daily with supply chain issues that have slowed production.
At a news conference at Sun ‘n Fun Aerospace Expo 2024, Nicolas Chabbert, senior vice president of Daher’s Aircraft Division said the strained production has resulted in two-year backlogs for both the Kodiak and TBM lines of high-performance turboprops.
“We would like it to be about a year,” he said. He said sourcing and acquiring the correct parts is a daily challenge for the company, but it is improving and the company has been steadily producing aircraft. It delivered 56 TBMs and 18 Kodiaks last year and is targeting delivering at least 60 TBMs and 25 Kodiaks in 2024.
Meanwhile, the company has added some safety enhancements to its flagship TBM 960 by adding systems to detect unresponsive pilots. If the pilot doesn’t interact with the aircraft or controls in some way in a 30-minute span a voice annunciation sounds. It will try twice more to rouse the pilot before activating the autoland system.
It also added lights to indicate if the yaw damper has been activated, a “check gear” light and a “propeller abort” if the propeller isn’t correctly configured for takeoff. It’s also added 3D SafeTaxi and runway occupancy alert. A nosegear-mounted taxiing light has also been added.
Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on AVweb.
