Daher announced at the Sun ‘n Fun International Fly-In and Expo that it has made further enhancements to its TBM 930. The French single-engine turboprop received the latest upgrade to the Garmin G3000 system, adding the SurfaceWatch alerting system for the runway environment; Baro VNAV, which allows pilots to fly precision approaches based on barometric pressure when the SBAS that is required for WAAS is unavailable; and visual approach capabilities, which provides lateral and vertical guidance based on a three-degree glideslope, to the already highly capable system. The symbology has also been improved.
Pilots and passengers of both the TBM 910, which has the G1000 with the NXi upgrade, and the 930 will also appreciate the addition of heated seats, which can be individually adjusted by each occupant.
Backlighting has been added to the central column for improved visibility at night of such things as the manual trim, power lever, flaps lever and override controls. Pilots will notice a difference in the communication when the oxygen mask is required, as a high-fidelity microphone has been incorporated into the mask.
Finally, the 2018 models will include the TBM Elite Package, which includes the Total Care Program for maintenance; and subscriptions to the Jeppesen Pilot Pak, Sirius XM weather and radio, and the Garmin Pilot app, which can share data with panel mounted avionics through the FlightStream 510, if installed.
