DAHER-SOCATA TBM 850 Top-of-the-line Speed and economy in a personal-size package T-PROP BY THOMAS A. HORNE PHOTOGRAPHY BY MIKE FIZER AND CHRIS ROSE D on’t look now, but Daher-Socata’s TBM series of single-engine turboprops is officially 26 years old. The airplane that began life on engineer Denis LeGrand’s drafting board at Socata’s facility in Tarbes, France, in December 1986, came to fruition under a partnership with Mooney Aircraft Company in the late 1980s, and had its first delivery in 1990 is now considered by many the ultimate personal turboprop. The recent delivery of the sixhundredth TBM—a TBM 850 model featuring Garmin’s G1000 avionics suite—underscores the brand’s enduring popularity. AOPA PILOT • T–5 • JANUARY 2012