Piper’s M500, an upgraded version of its Meridian turboprop, is now EASA-approved, the company announced today. “EASA certification is an important milestone allowing us to kick off a major sales campaign to bring the M500 to the European market,” said Simon Caldecott, CEO of Piper Aircraft. The M500 already has been certified in Brazil, Canada and Japan, Caldecott said. The airplane was updated last year, adding new safety features to the Garmin G1000 suite, includingelectronic stability protection, underspeed protection, coupled go-round, synthetic vision technology and automatic level mode.
The six-place M500 is powered by a Pratt & Whitney PT6A-42A engine,cruises at speeds up to 260 knots, andhas a range of 1,000 nm. A five-blade Hartzell prop is available as an option. The new model was first introduced last year at Sun ‘n Fun with a price of $2.26 million, but this year the company reduced the price to $1.99 million.
