SCOTTSDALE STATIC AIR DISPLAY

 Friday and Saturday Scottsdale Airport (SDL) and Landmark FBO hosted a static display of new airplanes. This event is held twice a year at SDL. It used to be sponsored by Porsche who did a first class job. They had a test track set up on the tarmac and offered free breakfast and lunch. There is not a sponsor any longer, so the event did not have as great attendance as in the past. The weather was bright sunshine with highs in the upper 80's.

Several manufacturers were on display:

Carbon Cub
Mooney
Beechcraft
Cessna
Cirrus
Piper
Epic
Kodiak
TBM
Pilatus
Eclipse

The Carbon Cub LSA did not garner much attention as most gravitated to the more expensive "go" airplanes. With 180 horsepower and 21 gallons of fuel you cannot go far in the Cub. $180,000.

Mooney showed the Acclaim, a fast single engine plane. Mooney has had numerous financial problems and this plane  did not have a crowd around it when I was there Friday and Saturday.

 Epic is a single engine carbon fiber turbo prop asking price of $2.9 million at this time. Delivery is slated for late 2016 to 2017 if approved. It is a tough buy as you do not know their financial status, and if they will be around to service the airplane after delivery.

TBM was represented by their 900 turbo prop.

 Rounding out the single engine turbo props was the Pilatus, which is the largest of the single engine turbo props.

Beechcraft brought 2 planes with them. First was the G36 Bonanza. The 36 has not changed much over the years. It still carries 74 gallons of useable fuel and only comes with a non turbo engine. The price has gone up from $600,000 to now $800,000. It is a stable plane for IFR and comes with Garmin G1000 avionics.

Beech also brought the granddaddy of twin turbo props the King Air 350. This plane weighs over 12,500 pounds and requires a type rating. This is an excellent airplane filling many mission profiles.

Cirrus brought one plane with them. The new Cirrus loaded is now $1 million for a single engine turbocharged prop with a ballistic chute.

Kodiak brought their turbo prop on floats. (No picture)

Eclipse had their 550 twin fanjet. This is a 6 passenger jet with a 1000 mile range.

Cessna had the most models on display.

First was a load hauling Turbo 206. This is a great airplane for tourism and hauling a family with gear. It is not fast but will haul a load and is an easy plane to fly. The passenger entry and exit is very easy.

Next is a low wing carbon fiber TTx. The TTx is a loaded airplane with a/c, airbrakes (spoilers) and the Garmin G2000. Of all the prop planes the TTx is the only airplane that has the G2000. It is a simple affair with an IPhone like panel just before the console. If you want to go to Com, just touch Com and then touch in the frequency. Same for VOR, Transponder code etc. This plane sells for $800,000 with Flight Into Know Ice (FIKI) approval. They also offer a non FIKI model for $750,000 which includes a 1/2 wing of TKS protection or Thermal wing protection.

This is the Cessna Caravan turbo prop with added luggage pods on the belly. This plane is not pressurized, slow cruise at 160 knots, but it will haul anything including the kitchen sink! Prices vary by model and options.

The last offering from Cessna was the M2 fanjet. This replaces the CJ, CJ1 and CJ1plus in the Cessna line. It is a lot nicer than the 525 CJ that I flew.  It has the Garmin G3000 and beautiful leather interior. The M2 is what I refer to as a regional plane with 1300 mile range. The CJ I flew I affectionally refer to as the 152 of jets. It is that easy to fly. Cost $4.5 million.

I saved my favorite plane until last. If I had the money this plane would best fit my profile mission. It is the Piper Mirage going for $1.3 million. The Mirage is a 6 place pressurized piston turbocharged airplane with an approximate range of 1,300 miles. The ceiling is 25,000 feet, and what I love is that I could fly over the top of 95% of the traffic without have to use oxygen. It has airbrakes to help in the descent without having to pull the power back too far preventing shock cooling the engine. Piper uses boots for deicing, which I like as I would not have to clean up the mess that TKS makes.

It is nice to dream. I could not buy any of these planes unless I won the Powerball Lottery. I had a great couple of days talking to Reps I knew from the past and meeting new Reps. I thank them for the time they gave me, and I enjoyed every minute of being there. It is nice to dream.

Found out after publishing this, that there were 2 different Air Displays at SDL, and they are not associated. Would like to thank Brian for his gracious email that is listed below for pointing this out.

Hello Art 

Thanks for coming out to be expo this weekend. It was nice to visit with you. I received an email from a colleague with some excerpts of an email that you had sent out. While I appreciate the write up,  I just wanted to point out a discrepancy. 

The Arizona Aircraft Expo has never had an affiliation with the Porsche Jet Preview. We are an event for aviation enthusiasts and prospective buyers. In our earlier years we had two additional venues around the state. This has changed in recent years to a single annual event in Scottsdale. This past weekend was our 8th year. We also have annual events in California (two in Southern California and another in Northern Cal). Again, no relation to the Porsche show.  

Please let me know if you have any additional question and thanks again for attending. 

Brian