Orders for New Meridian Are No Mirage; New Piper's New Turboprop Now Flying

It's not a stretched Mirage, says New Piper. Neither is it a Malibu with a turboprop. So what is it? Nothing less than New Piper's return to turbine-powered aircraft.

The "it" is the Malibu Meridian, which flew for the first time on August 21 and is commonly described as a re-engined and upgraded Mirage. As of early September, New Piper has received 91 orders for the new Meridian from its distributor network, of which more than 50 have been placed with end-users. The actual aircraft will not make NBAA this year because of its flight-test program, but a mock-up will be in Las Vegas. The success of the aircraft is proof that the company has emerged successfully from its early bankruptcy.

"The Malibu Meridian project was based on promises," said New Piper president and CEO Chuck Suma. "We said the project would be launched, and it was. We promised it would fly by the end of August 1998, and it did. We've promised from the beginning that we will certify and deliver Meridians in the second quarter of the new millennium, and we will. The Meridian is on schedule to meet all our time and performance guarantees."

The Meridian will compete with light jets and other turboprops on performance, but is priced at only $1.35 million- comparable in cost to the much slower, unpressurized Cessna Caravan. The Meridian's guaranteed performance, instead, will allow it to compete with the TBM 700 and Pilatus PC-12-both of which cost about $1 million more than the Meridian.

Major design changes were incorporated into the cowling to house the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-42A turboprop, which delivers speeds topping 300 mph at an altitude of 30,000 feet. Its maximum cruise range will exceed 1,000 nmi at high-speed cruise and a 45-minute reserve, with a load of approximately 1,600 pounds. Carrying four people including pilot reduces range to about 800 nmi at max cruise.

Takeoff power will be 350 shp, which the powerplant can maintain up to the aircraft's ceiling. The engine is mated to a three-bladed Hartzell prop.

The -42A engine is a derivative of the PT6A-42, which was tailored for single-engine aircraft with longer intervals between routine maintenance. TBO for the Meridian is 3,500 hours, with 1,750 hours between hot section inspections.

The re-engining does reduce the Meridian's tanks-full payload capacity and baggage space, however. Payload with maximum fuel is 468 pounds, as opposed to 527 pounds for the Mirage.

Other design changes were made to the horizontal stabilizer and elevator; the tail areas were increased 37% to provide better performance on takeoff and landing. There were also modifications to the wing, adding more surface area and a new fuel storage system. The fuel tanks are incorporated into "wet" wings and give the Meridian an additional 50 gallons of fuel.

The Meridian also features a nine-screen, "glass cockpit" array that was designed jointly with Garmin International, Meggitt Avionics and S-TEC Corp.

Garmin provides its GNS 530 navigation and communications system that includes a 12-channel GPS and full-color moving map display. S-TEC offers its System 550 autopilot with flight guidance computer that provides course interception and tracking, relying on VOR, localizer/glideslope and GPS guidance. Meggitt's contribution is its engine instrument display system.

The Meridian will be New Piper's most expensive product, but company officials say they haven't abandoned their commitment to lower-end trainers and personal aircraft.

They hope operators will eventually transition to the Meridian, and are offering buyers of the Malibu Mirage a $50,000 discount off the list price of the Meridian as long as the turboprop is ordered at the same time as the Mirage.

The company already is looking at a migration path for Meridian owners.

The current thinking is centered on a twin-engine turbofan with 1+5 seating and conventional construction.

The jet could be available-between 2003 and 2005, according to Larry Bardon, director of marketing and sales.

By Barry Rosenberg