My favorite airplane

I am one lucky guy! Let me explain. As a relatively new pilot, I am forturnate to own my own plane, but of course that's not enough for me. Any one that knows me won't be surprised by the fact that I spend a lot of time looking at other airplanes. Bigger, faster and unattainable airplanes. I spend hours looking through the online aircraft sales sites, pouring over makes and models that I will never be able to afford -- but a guy's gotta dream, right?

Well, my favorite single engine aircraft is the TBM850. It is made by the same company that makes my plane, Socata, but it is a HUGE step up. My TB-20 is a 6 cylinder, piston engine airplane that cruises at 150 knots, has a maximum altitude of 15,000 feet and is unpressurized. The TBM is a turbo-prop airplane that cruises at 300 knots, has a maximum altitude of 31,000 feet and has a quiet and comfortable pressurized cabin. It's truly night and day. Many of my Trinidad-owning friends lust over the TBM, but alas, all we can do is look. Except one of our brethren actually "transitioned" last year. He traded in his TB-20 and bought a brand new TBM850 -- to us, he is a god!

Now to why I'm so lucky. Tonight, "God" flew to Westchester airport and took me for a ride in his TBM850. In fact, I took the controls for 20 minutes and flew that bad boy!! What a ride!! "God" a.k.a. Guilherme, has business in New York occassionally, so he flies himself in from Minnesota. On this trip, even after a 3 1/2 hour flight alone, he was gracious enough to invite me to go for a ride. We flew to Albany and back. The weather at Westchester was Low IFR with ceilings right down to minimums. Below is a link to the video. Thank you, Guilherme -- this was my most memorable flight to date.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm5TIcbKZZE&feature=channel_page