You may remember last month we left off in a brand-new TBM 850 halfway between Scotland and Iceland at Flight Level 280 with both a master caution and a master warning light flashing and a horn blaring. That we were a long way from any land much less any runway required no emphasis. A fuel boost pump had fallen off-line for the third time. If there was ever a time to contemplate the twin versus single argument, this was it.
Yet the TBM is so solid of a machine and the ferry pilot in the right seat, Margrit Waltz, so experienced, that I really didn’t feel in any jeopardy. There is a backup boost pump and that big PT-6 will run on an engine-driven pump alone, so the event seemed more like a nuisance than anything else. Sure enough, we never heard another peep out of the engine or its accessories again. The event is a reminder that delivery flights by Socata are considered endurance flights under factory control before the new owner takes title, even if he or she makes the trip in her new airplane. Still, I can’t deny a tightening of my insides.
