I am a current A-36 owner and love the plane but I am considering upgrading to a Piper Meridian. I know there are a lot of threads on the Meridian but I haven't been able to find this answer.

Will a Legacy 2001-2002 Meridian without the gross weight increase be able to fly 4 adults with light baggage on a 500nm trip such as St Pete, Fl to Asheville, NC and have IFR reserves.

This is my longest mission. If not, does anyone know what the price is of the gross weight increase is or would it be better to just consider a purchase of the later model year Meridians?

Any other feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks!
David

PS I have flown and loved the TBM 700C2 but at this point cannot make the $ work out...

Dave that trip should be no problem. I owned and flew a Meridian for several years. With full fuel the Meridian is reliably 700 miles. You should have no trouble at 500 miles and four people. It’s a great airplane. It will give you great confidence and comfort compared to the Bonanza or any piston engine aircraft.

My understanding with legacy Meridians is there are two types of pilots: the ones who complain about the lack of useful load and the ones who fly it over gross. You have to decide in which camp you’ll reside.

2001-2003 or so are before the GW increase. I do not believe there are many that have not been upgraded. But if you’re looking at a specific one then that’s all that matters. Easiest way to guess if you see a bird is look at the wings for vortex generators.

Cutter in PHX does the upgrade for something like $90k. It gives you 230 additional pounds I believe.

My 2001 with Gw has empty weight of 3526. Full fuel is 1140lbs, however most times it will only be filled by an FBO to 1050 ish. Ramp weight is 5134, take off is 5092.

Today to be very comfortable with a total fuel of 970lbs (300lbs reserve included). That doesn’t leave a lot of room-
Non vg birds are 4850 max I think so that leaves 354.
Vg GW upgrade leaves 596 for people and bags. You can go less on reserve, say 250 or so but depends on initial climb and descent.

Thanks to everyone for the valuable information. Very appreciated.

If I decide to proceed with the legacy Meridian, I'll consider adding the upgrade GW increase as it does not currently have it. The useful load is only 1415 lbs.

Your mission would fit a Baron nicely and you would have the useful load needed. The Baron is about 20 knots faster than the 36 so you would see a modest time difference, the Meridian would be the big improvement in time. Cost wise the Baron will be a good bit less.

I used to own a 2002 that had the Gross Weight increase. It needed it.

I would try to buy one with the increase already done since (1) you'll need it (2) it's a reflection that prior ownership didn't skimp on spending on the airplane and (3) someday you'll sell it and the next prospective owners will consider your airplane rather than passing.

Good point about buying with the GWI already completed. Not something I would relish doing right away, but it would have to be done for the reasons stated.

Regarding the P Baron, the biggest downside (for me, not the plane) is that I would have to obtain my multi-engine rating and I'm not sure I'm up for a another rating right now.