If only I think it takes a year to build one from the time the aluminum rolls in one end of the building and the finished bird rolls out the other. To get a custom build would be a while. The dealers pre-build an allotment, so you may find one pre-spec'd with paint and options. Most come completely optioned. But I think they are sold out for quite some time for a new build. They were up in the low 60's for serial numbers when I was at the factory in February.

I like the stenciled S/Ns and N-numbers. Would be cool if Piper had a webcam for people with delivery positions.

What is the cabin altitude at FL 260?

Max dif?

Tiredness over long flights is a directly correlated to cabin altitude.

Sorry missed this. Not sure if this pic is high enough resolution, but the cabin altitude at 26,000 feet is 9000 feet. The plane is doing 301 KTAS burning only 325 pph (49 gph). 1.08 nm per pound of fuel, holds over the rated 1740 lbs of fuel, so you can see where the 1850 nm IFR range comes from at more conservative power settings. Pretty efficient down low. Max pressure diff is 5.6 PSI, but is computer controlled. With the old mechanical controllers in the PA46 you could max out the diff and get things a little lower, but is all controlled by George now, so you only get max diff at 30,000 feet.

In the Piper M, except on the shortest of flights, I usually fly FL250/260/270. The plane loves it there, is a great compromise of weather, smooth air, efficiency and speed.

The M700 gets to 25,000 feet in under 11 minutes, so no reason to not get into the cool smooth air on even very short flights.

When you buy one you get a hard bound baby book with pictures from the factory with shots of your baby growing up. I show mine to everyone that comes over to visit, but seems like people don't truly appreciate it like I do

Sorry missed this. Not sure if this pic is high enough resolution, but the cabin altitude at 26,000 feet is 9000 feet. The plane is doing 301 KTAS burning only 325 pph (49 gph). 1.08 nm per pound of fuel, holds over the rated 1740 lbs of fuel, so you can see where the 1850 nm IFR range comes from at more conservative power settings. Pretty efficient down low. Max pressure diff is 5.6 PSI, but is computer controlled. With the old mechanical controllers in the PA46 you could max out the diff and get things a little lower, but is all controlled by George now, so you only get max diff at 30,000 feet.

In the Piper M, except on the shortest of flights, I usually fly FL250/260/270. The plane loves it there, is a great compromise of weather, smooth air, efficiency and speed.

The M700 gets to 25,000 feet in under 11 minutes, so no reason to not get into the cool smooth air on even very short flights.

Not sure why that is on Piper. Garmin in the Mustang uses max differential pressure at all applicable altitudes with no operator involvement. The Garmin hardware is capable I don’t know why Piper would not use it.

Regardless of the controller the low cabin differential is one of the PA46 drawbacks. Flying with 9000 cabin is tiring. When I flew the Meridian I often wore a cannula for oxygen in addition to pressurization. It doesn’t take much extra flow. I made a cannula to attach to my headset boom microphone.

Certification for pressurization is an expensive process for the manufacturer. For the PA46 it was done during the initial piston model certification decades ago. At the time flying at FL200 in a single engine piston was quite the new experience. The available pressure diff was plenty. No one anticipated flying that airframe at FL300.

Great write-up Charles.
The Fury sounds like a remarkably capable aircraft. It also sounds like it would be a blast to fly.
I’m about 5 yrs from retirement and we will probably keep our properties in Florida, Wyoming and Nevada so the plane will be the means to move about. The Wyoming to Florida leg is 1100nm and I have been considering what aircraft I should be flying when the regular flying commutes for work come to an end.
The SETP’s are really attractive, but after reading all the numbers and considering the cost of acquisition, it’s really amazing to me what the “slide-rule era engineers” were able to accomplish with legacy turboprops. This morning I brought mine for its annual inspection. FL250 at 304kts ISA+6 burning 75gph total, and the aircraft is 51 years old!
With an endurance close to 5 hours I think I’m leaning towards keeping the old bird as I grow older as well. I’m sure the Fury is a lot more fun to fly than a legacy business plane like mine, but when it comes down to crunching all the financial, fuel and performance numbers, the old planes can still hold their own.

I was told a while back, that Piper uses the cabin pressure controller of the Mustang. I think it was Jack Mill, before he retired. He was looking into reprogramming it to allow better diff at lower altitudes. But things that would seem to be simple are usually more complex. Like retrofitting the fuel heating system of the M600/700 to the M500. To allow better fuel temps at altitude. Even at -54C in the M600, I don't have to descend for cold fuel in the M600. In the M500 fuel temp drops too low at much warmer temps with the lesser fuel oil heater necessitating descent to warmer temps on longer flights.

I only have 20 something hours in the Mustang, so no expert, but was looking through some of my old pics. Looks like the Mustang only gives max diff around 40,000 feet. Here are pics from a couple of altitudes, showing less than max diff. Of course the schedule is higher than the Piper.

If you can't read the cabin altitudes, it is 6.8 PSI at FL240 and 8.2 at FL 370, I think at FL400 you see 8.4 PSI.

To Chuck's point, that 6.8 psi at 24000 may either be part of the scheduling of the outflow controller (maybe a Enviro/Kollsman KAPS II system) or matching the cabin altitude to the destination. Just speculating though.

Sad if you can't max differential pressure. You paid for it

I only have 20 something hours in the Mustang, so no expert, but was looking through some of my old pics. Looks like the Mustang only gives max diff around 40,000 feet. Here are pics from a couple of altitudes, showing less than max diff. Of course the schedule is higher than the Piper.

If you can't read the cabin altitudes, it is 6.8 PSI at FL240 and 8.2 at FL 370, I think at FL400 you see 8.4 PSI.

That computer schedule is interesting. Not sure why they don't give max diff except at max altitude, but I will say that the operation is seamless. As long as you input the destination, the computer does all the work, and even with 2000 fpm climbs and 1500-3000 fpm descents, I don't get any ear popping. Very smooth for passengers. So if you had max diff at 18,000 feet and then did a 3000 fpm descent to destination, would have a pretty high cabin rate of descent that might be a little uncomfortable.

Here I am descending 3000 fpm, but the cabin is only descending at a pleasant 500 fpm. SO the computer stays well ahead of the pilot.